Shisno Chronicles: Friendship is Still Magic
by nightelf37
Summary: Takes place after "Shisno Chronicles: Friendship is Magic: The Return of Harmony". Content also copied straight from FiMFiction. Covering Season 2, the story will go just like the first "Shisno Chronicles: Friendship is Magic" does, but with a significant difference, aside from said coverage. HINT: Check the character tags. And PLEASE read the stories before it to understand.
1. Lesson Zero

nightelf37: Okay, I lied. It's "Lesson Zero" up next. I planned on doing "Baby Cakes" 'first', where I would explore the beginnings of Chronicle's…relationship upgrade and reactions of the others on it, but I decided to do it after this one. It's…'required' for one of my BONUS chapters. What I can tell you about it is that it's like BONUS 3, but involves Blue Diary instead of Timerity.

Also, to all my unregistered reviewers, particularly Gry17, please consider creating an account on this site so we can talk more privately. My replies to you are interrupting the rest of the readers. You don't need to have to make a story; you can just collect favorites.

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**Lesson Zero**

In the dreamscape…

"Chronicle!"

"We missed you!"

"Hey guys! I'm glad the portal mirrors are up and running again!"

Chronicle was having a short reunion with two of his cousins, Blue Pen and Hickory Dickory. The three were just breaking out from a group hug.

"Well, we **did** have help from some of the draconequui 'recruited' from the Outbreak," said Hickory. This earned the green earth pony a snarl from their unicorn cousin. "Oh, right. Discord 'Prime' was a real pain in the arse, wasn't he?"

"I think that would be putting it mildly," mused Pen as he frowned as well. "Who knew reality warpers can be such serious lechs?"

"Coming from a sex maniac like you?" snarked his brother. "Now that's something."

The green pegasus unfurled his wings. "Well, after **I** got 'skanked' by that bastard… even I have standards."

"You wanted to kill him, right?" Chronicle asked.

"Not just kill him. I wanted to ████ him, gut him like a Cornish game hen, pull out whatever ████████s he has that I gutted, and then force-feed them down his throat!"

The other two ponies were shocked with what he said. "Wow, that's dirty," said the unicorn before turning to face Hickory. "What about you? How was your Discord?"

"Well, unlike you, I'm not a full-on fighter partly and I didn't bring any artifacts with me. I had to settle for doing a prank war with him while sweet-talking to him on ending his evil ways." The earth pony gave a sigh. "Unfortunately, given what he did to them, my friends weren't as merciful and re-petrified him. I hope that in the event we are to free him again for whatever reason, Pinkie Pie and I can prank together with him."

For some reason, the mention of that pony made Chronicle turn away in wondering. Pen noticed and asked, "Hey, Timmy. Correct me if I'm wrong, but did you find a 'special somepony' in Equestria Prime?"

"No." was the instant reply.

"You're lying. I know romance when I see it. Also, Timerity told me right after I…visited her that you do have one, and that she has one too. And before his world ended up time-frozen from the outbreak, Blue Diary let slip that he has one too."

Hickory got interested as the subject changed. "So who are their special someponies? Mine is Pinkie Pie."

"Well, Blue Diary confessed to me that he has a fancy for Raindrops, although he finds it conflicting with the fact that he's still living in with Ditzy Doo and he pretty much serves as Dinky Doo's 'uncle'."

"Teenage pregnancy."

"And Timerity's already dating Rainbow Blitz. And considering the mirror phenomenon between your worlds—"

"No. Even if that's the case, Timerity and Chronicle are like violet and purple."

"That doesn't make any sense."

"Well, they **are** the same in many ways, but they have their differences. By principle, Timerity's better in fighting and flexibility, while Chronicle is more forgiving and when it comes to a fight between the two, in terms of determination to protect, he will prevail."

Blue Pen turned to face Chronicle. "So, who **is** your special somepony?"

This question he refused to answer and forcefully woke himself up, evicting them from the dreamscape. Fortunately for him, it was time to wake up anyway; he had someplace special to go today.

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Sunrise at Ponyville…

It's been a week after the eventful revelation the Keepers of the Elements of Harmony (and Spike and Mystic Shield) discovered concerning their friend Chronicle, not to mention their…"clash", to put it mildly, that led to it. Things have returned to normal, although rumors of the revelation have spread. It is not certain who spread it (assuming one of them did it) or who found out (assuming no one did), but Chronicle was all right with it; it was about time he learned what it means to be in a romantic relationship.

But that could wait another time. Right now, he and Spike had work to do. He already dispatched a couple of magical clones to various places. In fact, the one who was in the library assisting Twilight Sparkle was a clone as well. Where's the real one? We'll find out later.

"Quill," Twilight said.

"Check," Spike answered as the item flew over his head as he held another one and a scroll in hand. THe quill settled down by two others next to a stack of paper.

"Parchment."

"Check."

"Extra ink."

"Check."

"Extra extra ink."

Spike was slightly bemused by now. "Check."

"Rook to F2. Checkmate," snarked Chronicle, being the one who passed the items to Twilight, who now had three inkwells on the table.

"Is that everything on the checklist?" asked their 'boss'.

"Yep," Spike replied.

"Great." She walked over past him. "Now that we've completed the checklist of things we need to create a checklist, we can make my checklist of the things I have to get done by the end of the day. Ready?"

"Ready!"

"Item one. Create checklist of the things I have to accomplish by the end of the day."

The baby dragon's eyes popped and he dropped to the floor with a weary groan.

"I think you're going overboard with this bit of work," commented the blue unicorn. "Do you have a checklist fetish or something?"

"What's a fetish?"

This was answered with a facehoof. "Of all the—just forget about it."

Spike went over and whispered in her hear, probably explaining. Upon hearing what he had to say, she finally answered, "…No, I do not."

"Okay."

C—TS—S—C—TS—S—C—TS—S—C—TS—S

_Now Playing: My Little Pony Theme Song_

{scene opens to reveal the "Twinkling Balloon" in front of the daytime sky, with Twilight Sparkle, Chronicle, and Spike as its passengers}

_Twilight Sparkle: __My Little Pony, My Little Pony_

{Twilight looks around from the balloon as it descends into the clouds}

_Off-distance choir: __Ahh ahh ahh ahhh…_

{cloud obscures balloon from view, which Rainbow Dash then plows through, breaking it and revealing Ponyville}

_Other singers: __(My Little Pony)_

{Rainbow makes a loop-de-loop as the 'camera' zooms in and enters tunnel vision, and exits it to show the balloon touching down. There is now a locomotive train and its station.}

_Twilight Sparkle: __I used to wonder what friendship could be_

{Twilight jumps off the balloon just before it lands and trots forward while nodding at a passing Mystic Shield; once the balloon does land, Chronicle jumps off immediately after his charge and greets Mystic as well as Spike climbs out.}

_Other singers: __(My Little Pony)_

{Spike gets off of the balloon and runs to catch up with the two unicorns, waving at Mystic as he soon leaves the screen; close of Twilight's face as her face brightens.}

_Twilight Sparkle: __Until you all shared its magic with me_

{As Chronicle catches up, camera turns around to show their friends ahead: (left to right) Pinkie Pie hops in place, Rarity makes a charming pose, Applejack looks ahead with one foreleg crossed over the other, Fluttershy simply looks cute as she looks sidelong at the camera, and Rainbow Dash flies in and stops just above the four}

_Rainbow Dash: __Big adventure_

{In a sky backdrop, she flies in, then zooms off, leaving a rainbow trail, which covers the screen and serves as a screen transition}

_Pinkie Pie: __Tons of fun_

{In a Sugarcube Corner, she blows a yellow balloon, which expands until it fills the whole screen as a transition, then bursts}

_Rarity: __A beautiful heart_

{Inside Carousel Boutique, she flips her hair as she stares right into the camera; a twinkle emerges from her eye and serves as the screen transition}

_Applejack: __Faithful and strong_

{Outside at her farm, she raises her hind legs and bucks a tree, sending down a bunch of apples, which serves as the screen transition}

_Fluttershy: __Sharing kindness_

{Just outside her cottage, she nudges an apple towards a white bunny; a swarm of butterflies fills the screen from below and serve as the screen transition}

_Chronicle: __It's an easy feat_

{Inside his training range, he swings his signature "magic horn blade" from right to left, the streak coming from it serving as the screen transition}

_Twilight Sparkle: __And magic makes it all complete_

{A distance from the library, Twilight teleports in and the camera zooms out more to reveal the rest of the gang; to the right are Applejack, Fluttershy, and Chronicle, to the left are Pinkie Pie and Rarity, above those two is Rainbow Dash, and at the left side of the screen near the edge is Mystic Shield; as the other five mares edge closer to Twilight, Chronicle does too, closing his eyes and giving a wide smile while Mystic just crosses one of his legs with the other.}

_Twilight Sparkle: __You have…_

_All: __…my little ponies_

{Spike pops out in front with a scroll and breathes green fire into it, sending the letter to the far-off city in the mountains; Canterlot}

_Twilight Sparkle: __Do you know you're all my very best…_

_All: __…friends?_

{Cut to a throne room where Princess Celestia sits, two black unicorn guards a ways below her seat; the smoke that was Spike's letter flies over to the Princess, stops in front of her, and returns to its original form; Celestia then opens it with her magic (golden aura) and a smile; the scroll possesses a picture depicting Twilight and company posed together, with Chronicle positioned in front and sitting close to Rarity and Fluttershy, this time closer to the latter.}

{cut to the show's title, which has an added yellow box above reading "Shisno Chronicles", then switches to the text "Made for Television by **Lauren Faust**", then to the text (in the same format as before) "Fanfic written by **nightelf37**"; fade to black}

_End Song_

Pinkie Pie: Wow! Promoted to Opening Titles, huh?

nightelf37: You already said that, Pinkie.

Pinkie: But that was the Japanese version, where "gala" is a foreign concept.

nightelf37: Same deal. Now let's continue with the story.

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Daybreak…

Spike was dragging a very long scroll across a busy street, its end thankfully held up by (the clone) Chronicle (and no one getting in its way) as the two of them eyed it worriedly while walking after Twilight.

"How are we doing, Spike?" she asked as they stopped.

"Let's see. We've already dropped off your cape at the cleaners…" Spike stated. "…returned the blackboard you borrowed from Cheerilee, ordered new parchment and quills from the stationery shop…"

Twilight walked over upon hearing that. "Hmm…seems like we'd just placed an order for those a few days ago."

Spike threw a look over his shoulder at the yards of parchment stretching behind the pair, with Chronicle still on the other end. "Can't imagine why we go through so many of them."

"Sounds like we're ahead of schedule. What's next?"

"Cupcakes!"

The blue stallion gulped at this. _Chronicle, snap out of it! Pinkie's not making cupcakes out of ponies! You would know!_

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In Sugarcube Corner…

Chronicle opened a box on the store's counter containing a batch of pink-frosted cupcakes. Spike eyed the frosted baked goods with an eager, shuddery moan, but Twilight's eye was a more critical one, with Chronicle being passive.

"Uh—I only ordered twelve," the bookworm said. Mrs. Cake emerged from the kitchen, tray on head…and a distended stomach. _I'm gonna have to ask for that 'scene' to be edited out._ He didn't know it, but she was pregnant.

"Oh, I know, dear, but I had an extra," replied the baker, taking some boxes back in. "So I thought I'd make it a baker's dozen."

_A baker's dozen consists of thirteen items rather than twelve. Bad luck._

Spike let his tongue hang out with another shudder, but Twilight magically yanked him back and stepped up for a closer look. "Oh, that was very thoughtful of you." Mrs. Cake returned to the counter. "It's just, some of the icing from the extra cupcake is getting all over the one next to it. See?"

The older mare leaned over the box…and saw that as far as she knew, all the cupcakes appeared to be evenly iced. She decided to play along regardless. "Oh…sure."

"It's just that I'm planning on sharing these at a picnic later, and I don't want anypony to feel like somepony else is getting more icing." Twilight gave a big grin to Mrs. Cake.

"Oh…no, uh, of course not."

"Like they'd notice or care," said Chronicle, but he was ignored as his charge 'picked up' a small scraper off the work counter and whisked it over Mrs. Cake's shoulder, unnerving her slightly.

"Not to worry. I'll just move some of this one to…" Twilight nudged a dollop of icing away from one and divided it between two others. "…hmm…I think I may have scooped too much…oops, now those two have more. Let's just try this again." Which she proceeded to do with fierce concentration.

Mrs. Cake kept her forced smile, recoiling slightly from the bits of flying icing. Down below, Spike began to lose his patience. Chronicle was trying again to convince Twilight, but to no avail.

"Twilight, nopony will notice or care. Maybe Pinkie will notice, but she certainly won't care. I, for one, won't."

"Hmm…no, that won't do. Let me just…" Spike was hit in the face with some icing, and Chronicle repelled them with a wall barrier; even it can dissipate him. "…hmm, put some here…then…no, that's not right. A little more on this one, and a little bit…ah, wait…" The three around Twilight began to worry as her face gradually rearranged into a slightly crazed expression. "…I'll just…ooh, a little bit here…and here…and…perfect!"

'Perfect' being 'stripped of all icing except a small dab in the center of its top'. Mrs. Cake had been liberally spattered, and she woodenly replied, "Hmm, oh, yes, much better."

Twilight floated the lid on the box. "Okay!" She turned away, levitating the box. "Time to tackle the next item on our—"

"Perhaps we can put it on hold." As it turns out, her balancing the icing had left all of it on Spike. Chronicle was levitating whatever nearly went on him and munched on them. This surprised both her and Mrs. Cake.

"Oops. Looks like we're gonna have to add "give a baby dragon a bath" to our list." Said baby dragon just lashed out his tongue, wrapped it around his body, and yanked it back to set himself spinning in place. The tongue promptly cleaned away every bit of icing and retracted into his mouth, and he gleefully swallowed the sweet stuff as soon as he stopped.

"Aaand it's been taken care of," snarked the stallion as he and Twilight, with Spike on the latter's back exited Sugarcube Corner, the box floating before them.

"Very efficient! And a little bit gross."

Spike's only response was a noncommittal grunt.

"Next time, we're ordering muffins," Chronicle said. "They're much healthier."

C—TS—S—MCC—C—TS—S—MCC—C—TS—S—MCC

Back in the second floor of the library…

"Looks like that's everything," Spike said, checklist in hand, as the three of them entered the room with the box of cupcakes.

"Almost everything," Twilight said as he jumped off her back.

Spike read the end of the list. "Triple-check checklist to make sure we didn't miss anything when we double-checked the checklist." He decided to mark it off. "Uh, check." He then dropped the quill and scroll with a sudden groan, exposing the throbbing, inflamed wrist of his writing hand. "I've been holding that quill so long I've got a claw cramp!"

He and Chronicle went over to her, the former with a bandage on his wrist, as she levitated a cupcake. "Good thing we don't have anything to report to Princess Celestia this week. I don't think I could write another word."

for some reason, this threw a sudden scare into Twilight so that she let the snack drop. "We haven't sent a letter to Princess Celestia this week?"

"Why? Is that bad?" She leaned into his face, making his bandage fall off.

"Bad? Bad? Of course it's bad! I'm supposed to send Princess Celestia a letter every week telling her about a lesson I've learned about friendship! Not every other week, not every ten days—" She jabbed a hoof into his chest. "—every single week!" She then backed away.

"Huh?"

"Oh, I'm sure she can let off a schedule slip," Chronicle said. "No matter how much I look at it, I just don't see her flipping her lid from **one** uneventful letter."

A panicked moan from his charge indicated that he ws being ignored yet again as she went over to her desk, surrounded by scattered and levitating books. "Where's my calendar, where's my calendar?"

Spike reached in a drawer as they flew past. "Where it always is?"

As soon as he fished it out, it got yanked over to a stand with enough force to carry him along. The calendar landed properly and flipped open, but he would ave crashed into the stand's support and slide down to the floor were it not for Chronicle catching him.

"Would you **please** be careful around Spike?!" reprimanded the stallion as he set Spike down.

"Sorry. When did we send the last one?"

"Last…Tuesday?" Spike answered Twilight.

"If I recall correctly, that was the day you guys beat the snot out of me," remarked the blue pony.

"And today is…?"

"…Tuesday."

"Do we have any backup letters to send?"

"No. The last one was two weeks ago."

She snapped upright with a cry as she ran up to her bedroom. "Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!" She went over to her bedroom window, popped up at it, and looked at the sun. "If I don't send her a letter by sundown, I'll be…" As her companions went up the stairs after her, they saw a scenery spontaneously appear behind her. Upon later investigation, from her Surveillance camera's point of view, it looked like the background flared red behind her. "…tardy!"

Spike nonchalantly pushed it away to restore the view of the window, then Chronicle teleported it to his "training range".

"What's that, now?" asked the dragon.

"Tar-dy, Spike. Late!" Twilight flopped onto her bed. "I'll be late! Ooh, how could I have let this happen? I'm usually so organized. She pulled the blanket over herself. "I've never been late with an assignment!"

"Oh, please! You're the most studious student ever!" He threw the blanket and jumped down from the loft. "I'm sure the Princess'll forgive you if you miss one little deadline."

"It's not like there are other students of hers with better records than you, right? I just don't see her expecting you to be a perfectionist. You've shown her many times that you are not so."

"I'm afraid to take that chance, guys. This is the ruler of all of Equestria we're talking about. The pony who holds my fate in her hooves!" She stops for breath at this point, but a sudden thought stopped her from continuing. "What if she doesn't forgive me?"

"Yeah, I don't think she'll—" Spike was cut off when she teleported down to get in his face.

"What if instead she starts thinking I'm not taking my studies on friendship seriously?"

"Why would she—"

Twilight began to pace as Chronicle walked down the stairs. "What if she makes me come back to Canterlot and puts me back in school and makes me prove I've been taking them seriously by giving me a test?!" She stopped and gasped. "What if I don't pass?"

"But why wouldn't you pass—"

"She's my teacher! Do you know what teachers do to students who don't pass?" There was a a brief pause, during which neither boys had no immediate vocal response.

"They have to either retake the test, or repeat the year?" Chronicle guessed.

"They send them back a grade! But she won't just send me back a grade. She'll send me back to… …Magic Kindergarten!"

As she sat on the floor, freaked-out and shivering, she happened to spontaneously summon a window shade…right in front of a Surveillance camera again. And Spike went over and snapped it up, making it disappear. Upon later inspection, Chronicle would see that it showed her mortified, in a classroom, sitting on top of a far-too-small school desk, and being jeered and pointed at by all the other unicorn fillies seated at their own desks.

"Twilight…" Spike nudged her. "Twilight!"

She finally snapped to. "Huh?"

"That is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard!"

"**We've** ever heard, Spike. I think it's stupid too. Besides, Twilight, you helped saved the world. Not once, but **twice**," Chronicle reminded his charge. "There's no way she'd be **that** ungrateful to you." _And if she is, I'm gonna talk her down about it, Princess or not. The only thing that can get in the way of that is the government._

"You're not gonna be sent back to Magic Kindergarten."

"You're right. I have no reason to worry." The dragon smiled proudly as she stood up. "Because I'm going to solve a friend's problem and get that letter to Princess Celestia before sundown!"

This elicited a very loud groan from her number-one assistant and her bodyguard as she leaned over to the former.

"So…got any problems, troubles, conundrums, or any other sort of issues, major or minor, that I, as a good friend, could help you solve?" Twilight ended this with a big grin.

He thought hard for a few seconds, grunting with the metal effort. "I got nothing."

She immediately turned to face her bodyguard. "What about you? Any lingering feelings from you-know-what? Or maybe there's some sort of strain between you and—"

"I seriously doubt you know anything about non-family relationships. And for Luna's sake, we haven't even **started**! Now you scared me off. **And** no, me sending relationship reports to substitute for you is not a good idea. As for my **other** issue, that was unfortunately solved last week. And if I do happen to still have a big problem concerning **him**, I don't need friends to solve it, I need a therapist." _Or my mother. Damn, I should talk to her about this._

Twilight's face fell and she backed off with a sigh as she trotted downstairs. "Then it looks like I'm gonna have to find somepony who **does** have a problem!"

"This won't end well," groaned Spike after she's gone.

"Want to send a letter?" asked Chronicle.

"Nah. Hopefully this will be solved before it comes to that."

"Just like with me?"

"Yeah."

C—S—S—C—S—S—C—S—S—C—S—S

Eyecatch (video-type) - A giant clock ticks as Twilight Sparkle run left to right to left again in panic. Spike and Chronicle watch her as they stand on either side of the clock. The show's logo is seen on the upper left.

C—S—S—C—S—S—C—S—S—C—S—S

"The clock is ticking"…

In Mystic Shield's Self-Defense Academy For Unicorns…

The eponymous teacher wasn't conducting class today. Right now, he was enrolling a couple of new students. He had no idea why it was only now, but decided not to dwell on it. A Chronicle clone stood next to him to survey the new students as well, being co-teacher after all. Greatstone was present too, now 'promoted' to an apprentice who can teach in his (and Chronicle's) stead should he be unavailable for whatever reason in the middle of classes. The same privileges have been given to Tricky Books, Chrono Cards, and Bullseye.

The to-be-students were four foals and two adults. The first foal was Ruby Pinch, who is apparently related to Berry Punch, who in turn is a close friend of Minuette. Her coat was carnation, her mane was thulian pink, and here eyes were green.

The second was Tootsie Flute, who was adopted recently by Bon Bon and Lyra. He had trouble thinking about that. She had a baby blue coat, a lavender mane, and an eye color similar to that of the darker portion of her mane.

Third was Snails, though Snips wasn't here as well. Probably because he wasn't learned enough to use magic. It was the same deal with Sweetie Belle, not that he'd allow her in his class anyway, regardless of Rarity's consent. After that explosive lemons incident, he's rather not be involved with them. At least not her or Scootaloo; Apple Bloom was okay.

The last foal was a filly named Firelock, Firecracker Burst's little sister. She had an orange coat, two-toned red hair, and green eyes. Of all the four, only Snails had his cutie mark.

The first adult was a mare named Berryshine. She shared Berry Punch's colors (and cutie mark), except—other than being a unicorn—her hair was kind of like Rarity's, though not nearly as meticulously maintained. The relation between her and the "resident drunkard", who by the way owns a winery, is still unknown, however.

The other was a sleek black stallion with a buzz-cut white mane, a stuffy white tail, and a rectangular mirror cutie mark. His name is Morpheus, which was a bit of an oddball name by pony standards. His special talent is disguises, and can make himself look like anypony he's seen. However, his voice acting is terrible, and his disguises are only as good as the details he has perceived, so that means he has to take a really good look before he can pull off an effective disguise.

Mystic asked by he confided all that in the first place and he said that a pink pony went over to him and asked if he was going to Mystic Shield's academy. He said he was, and then she told him to "Pinkie Promise" that he would not use his lessons for evil or morally questionable purposes whatsoever. He couldn't find a way to weasel out of it, so he decided to relent just to get her off of his back (literally). The teacher had no idea what to say about this, but decided it was not worth dwelling over.

"All right, ponies," he declared. "Before I can accept you in my class, I need to verify that you are capable of casting magic and have enough power to cast the two basic spells I will be teaching. This goes for the adults as well, as cases of magically-weak unicorns exist. Now…" He 'summoned' a brick from "magicspace" and set in in from of him. "Lift the brick."

And, one by one, that's what they all did. Snails barely passed, his magic starting up reminding Chronicle of revving up a car engine, but his efforts were enough for Mystic to accept him in his class.

"Good. Now that you've all passed the first test, Greatstone here will evaluate your magic power." he gestured to the light brown unicorn, who gave a nod. "And if you do pass, he will conduct an orientation class to evaluate your other traits."

As the six new to-be-students went over to the apprentice, the Chronicle clone asked Mystic a question as they walked over to the far wall opposite the door. "Say, not that I want you to pester her about it, but why doesn't Rarity take our classes again?"

"Well, from what her sister Sweetie Belle told me, she already attends Sensei's classes, who teaches Ponyrate, Griff Thai, Zebrakido, Minofu, and weapon arts. She thinks it's a hassle to start attending my classes as well."

"What's their difference between karate, muay thai, aikido, and kung fu, which I think is taught by the other masters in the Martial Arts Group?"

"Karate is a minotaur martial art, while Ponyrate is an implementation of that art designed by an earth pony seafarer named Ocean Rope. Zebrakido is aikido developed by a zebra whose name I can't remember. Its difference between aikido taught by Ebon Belt is that its movements are much smoother and more refined, although they don't take pegasus wings into account, which pony aikido does. Kung fu is a martial art originating from the Griffon Kingdom east of Equestria, and Minofu is based on that, but doesn't take wings into account since minotaurs don't have them. As for muay thai…" Mystic stopped upon realizing he doesn't know it. "What's muay thai?"

_Whoopsie. Maybe it doesn't exist here._ "…Never mind. Forget I asked."

Just then, Twilight Sparkle entered the dojo, and the two of them can detect a twinge of panic in her face.

"Mystic Shield!" she cried out as she teleported over to them. "Is there anything I can help you with?"

"…Um, no."

"You look like you're getting some new students. May I—"

"No," Mystic cut her off. "Only I can give you something to do. Nobody eager to do something for me without me telling them first is permitted, whether or not it's to 'win points' with me. My teacher Aegis, who I learned this 'trade' from, told me that accepting them often leads to disaster due to that eagerness."

Twilight's ears drooped. "Oh. Um, any… uh… problems with your students? Conflicts, troubles, conundrums, or any other sort of issues, major or minor, that I, as a good friend, could help you solve?"

Mystic put a hoof to his chin. "Let's see. Other than some of them not performing as well in class, and a few dawdlers while I lecture, nothing you can help with." He raised a hoof to prevent her from speaking more. "And no, the only ponies I can trust my schedule and problems with are Chronicle and my apprentices."

"Why don't you trust me?"

"The main reason why is because our scheduling methods are opposites of one another. You keep a schedule most convenient to yourself and, as much as you may deny it, expect others to follow it. I, on the other hoof, conform my schedule to others for their convenience, but of course I don't try to please everypony, as one of your friendship reports mention."

_Right. Rarity's fashion show._

"If you have nothing else to discuss with me related to my classes, I suggest you leave, please."

Twilight hung her head in defeat at this, then teleported away. Chronicle wasn't too happy about this. _Oh dear. Something's wrong with her. But what? I think one of my clones will know._

C—TS—S—MS–G–RP—TF—F—B—M

"Take your time"…

Elsewhere, at Sweet Apple Acres, Rainbow Dash, and two Chronicle clones with a reinforced barriers around them were doing demolition work on a barn. All three wore transparent safety goggles. The pegasus started into a flying kick and a savage yell, crashing into a wall and out the opposite one. One of the two 'unicorns' began to barrage the barn with giant magic "shurikens". Normally, these only hurt organics and not damage the environment, but only because Chronicle set his power that way. The other one was cleaving stuff in half with his signature "magic horn blade".

At a nearby ditch, Applejack—with a crash helmet instead of her stetson—took cover. Splinters flew every which way as the trio of "demoponies" continued chopping, bucking, biting, slicing, and blasting their way through every piece of wood they can reach. Further away, one of the chunks whistled through the air and embedded itself in the road just in front of Twilight, bringing her up short in her walk to the farm.

"What in the world?" she gasped as she took in the full scope of the barn demolition and paused for a moment. "Rainbow must be angry with Applejack!" She gave a shrewd smile. "She must hate her guts! Oh, wonderful! And from what I know of Chronicle's opinion of Applejack, he must've finally snapped! This is great!" She then zipped ahead to deal with the "problem", reaching the pegasus first, who was coming in for another pass. "Rainbow Dash! Stop!"

The latter found herself telekinetically grabbed by the tail, just short of crashing through the barn wall again. The rest of her hung free as Twilight trotted up. The two Chronicle clones stopped what they were doing and one of them walked over.

"Listen, Rainbow." She gave a wink. "I know you're upset with Applejack, but don't worry. Whatever it is that has come between you two, I'm sure that I, as a good friend, can help you resolve your problems."

"Uh, Twilight. This isn't what it looks like," said the clone that approached.

She took no notice of him or the thoroughly confused look that Rainbow was sending her way. When she released her hold on the multicolored tail, its owner hung in the air for a second before thudding to the ground. "Uh, what are you talking about?" asked the pegasus as she stood up.

Twilight pua a hoof on Rainbow's shoulder "Oh, Rainbow Dash, you don't have to hide your feelings from me." She turned the mare's face toward hers. "I can tell you two must have had a terrible fight."

The magical clone couldn't hep but stifle a chortle. "Oh, I hope you don't mean it like I think it is." _Do you seriously think she has an affair with you?_ Twilight then faced him.

"And Chronicle, I should've known your disdain for Applejack would've gone this far."

"What?"

C—TS—A—RD—C—TS—A—RD—C—TS—A—RD

"…But hurry"…

Rainbow now lay stretched out on her back on a nearby bench, her goggles removed. Twilight sat alongside on her haunches, her mane tied back in a bun, with a pair of glasses balanced on her nose and a quill and clipboard floating overhead. The overall effect resembled a psychiatrist's office, with Rainbow as the patient on the couch. The clone that was called in was standing nearby, as if in line, while the other was watching discreetly from the barn.

Twilight patted Rainbow's head, taking notes. "Now, why don't you tell me all about your issues with Applejack?"

"I don't have any issues with Applejack," she replied.

"Neither do I," said Chronicle. "Not at the moment, anyway."

"You don't? Then why are you destroying her property?"

"Because she asked us to." He called toward the ditch, "Isn't that right, Applejack?"

The apple harvester peeked up from the ditch with a smile. "Yes, ma'am." She pulled off her helmet. "I wanted to put up a new barn, but this one's gotta come down first." She chuckled before putting it back on. "Now get back to it, RD!"

Rainbow sat up and donned her goggles. "You got it, boss!" As she lifted off, Twilight ditched her glasses and undone her mane.

"I'd take cover if I were you," the farmpony advised the "friendship problem" seeker.

She followed her own advice as the winged wrecking ball rose to an altitude of several hundred feet, directly above the barn. Twilight let off a little cry of shock and leaped into the ditch, landing alongside Applejack and hunkering down just as she has done. The two clones just watched from where they stood, their task finished as they waited to be dissipated. Applejack would no longer be needing their service today.

A shrill whistle of air marked Rainbow's high-speed descent, joined by her own yell just before she smashed squarely into the dilapidated structure. It disappeared in a cataclysmic blast that briefly tinted the sky a lurid red and threw out a rainbow-hued wave similar to that from a Sonic Rainboom, as well as a multicolored mushroom cloud.

The velocity of the detonation as well as the resulting dirt and rubble instantly made the clones vanish and a mass of dirt and rubble fell into the ditch, burying the two mares down it. Applejack was first to emerge and threw a cheerful wave upward before jumping up to ground level. Twilight extricated herself a few seconds later and trudged off with a disappointed sigh. The aftermath of this extreme tear-down work had left her mane slightly disheveled.

C—TS—A—RD—C—TS—A—RD—C—TS—A—RD

"We got hours 'til the sun explodes"…

Twilight was now trotting away from town through a stretch of meadowland. "Oh, I can't believe I wasted all that time. I should've just come here first. Fluttershy always has some fear she's trying to get over. As a good friend, I'll be able to help her." She finally approached the cottage, then peeked around one corner. Her eyes popped in surprise, at what she saw.

In a clearing, the meek yellow pegasus was facing off against a very large, angry, roaring brown bear. Chronicle (the real one) stood off from a distance, curiously not in a battle stance. He didn't even look alert and prepared to protect his friend.

"Why isn't he making a move…" the unicorn mare wondered to herself.

The bear rose to its hind legs, and Fluttershy galloped straight between them. After it peeked through with a puzzled grunt, she rocketed in and landed a flying kick to the back. As it tumbled through the air, she grabbed a hind leg and twisted to throw it flat on the grass. Her next move was to yank the leg toward the head, bending the massive body double and forcing a ground-pounding bellow.

Twilight was horrified at this. "Fluttershy?" Chronicle on the other hoof was making a somewhat mesmerized smile.

The pummeling continued with a stomp on the back and a hard twist that forces the beefy neck around 180 degrees, after which Fluttershy released her hold. As the bear collapsed senseless to the lawn, Twilight's jaw looked ready to fall off its hinge from sheer disbelief. She shook her head clear and paced in place.

"How can this be happening? Of all the days she had to stop being such a scaredy-pony, she had to pick today!" she said as she walked away, her ear twitching briefly. "What am I going to do?"

Chronicle just continued watching as Fluttershy now stood atop the bear's back. She kneaded the broad muscles with her hooves, eliciting a low groan of pleasure from the slackly smiling creature.

"You really should have come to me sooner. You were carrying so much tension in that shoulder," she said to the bear. She got a relaxed little noise from the bear—having given it a rather extreme massage with no malicious intent as Twilight thought.

The blue stallion just gave a dreamy sigh. "I love it when she stands up like this."

C—TS—F—C—TS—F—C—TS—F—C—TS—F

"Tick tock, doc"…

Spike and the Chronicle clone with him were walking down a path in the park, the former with the box of cupcakes in hand. As they did, they heard talking. They picked up the pace and saw their charge standing on a bench, talking to her reflection in a puddle.

"It'll be all over! My time in Ponyville! My advanced studies! No, no. You're a good student. You can do this. Ohh…but what if I can't? You can! You just have to keep it together! Keep it together!"

"Are you talking to…yourself?" Spike asked. He approached her and waved a hand in front of her feverishly determined face.

The sound of laughter snapped her upright, then a bubble of magic seemed to manifest around her head and obscured it as she fell over from the bench and wound up huddled on the ground.

_What's going on? Does magic run rampant like this on nervous magically-inclined unicorns?_ Chronicle thought. The scene in the bubble showed three leering, jeering silhouettes on a scorched plain under a sick red sky pointing at Twilight. _Okay, that's creepy._

Spike was the first to do something about it, namely poke his claw at it, bursting the bubble. "SNAP OUT OF IT!" he yelled.

Twilight shook her head clear. "Huh?"

"Are you okay?" Chronicle asked.

Instead of answering, she looked across the meadow. Her two companions followed suit to see three fillies playing jump-rope, enjoying themselves, and laughing innocently.

(Ruby Pinch was one of those three. It's been a few hours since the orientation class in Mystic Shield's Academy and she was allowed to leave. She passed the test by the way, though she would later get a reprimand from Berry Punch. As it turns out, she did it without her consent.)

"Twilight, I'm really worried," Spike said.

"You and me both. My Harmony Link sensed something wrong, but the signs were too vague for me to figure out what it was." Spike didn't turn in confusion as he's been told about the Harmony Link during the time Chronicle had been…obsessive with his training.

Their charge covered her eyes for a moment, then dropped her hooves helplessly. "I mean, this letter thing is really getting to you." Spike nudged her with the cupcake box. "Here. You've been so anxious all day that you completely forgot about the picnic. Why don't you just relax and go hang out with—" He was cut off as she whirled to face him, suddenly crazed.

"The picnic!" Her assistant recoiled, but she levitated the box out of his grip and galloped off with it. "I should go see my friends!"

"I'm glad you've come to your senses."

"I'm getting a feeling she hasn't yet," mused the clone as he turned to face Spike. "Punch me, will you? He'll want to know about this."

"All right." Spike did as requested and the clone disappeared.

C—TS—S—C—TS—S—C—TS—S—C—TS—S

"Tik tok, on the clock"…

Pinkie Pie was hopping cheerfully through the park with a picnic basket in her teeth. Finding a suitable spot, she stopped and set the basket down, then nipped away the cloth tucked into it. Three balloons floated up and away, taking the basket with them due to their strings being tied into its bottom. Pinkie aimed a silly grin and puzzled look at the others gathered; Applejack laying out a picnic blanket, Fluttershy sitting on the grass and staring up after the basket, Chronicle sitting next to her and rubbing his head as his clone's discoveries rushed into his brain, Rainbow wearing sunglasses and applying suntan lotion (?!), Rarity rummaging around in a basket of her own, having dumped out most of the contents.

"Please tell me I did not forget the plates!" the fashionista said before straightening up with a gasp. "I did! I totally forgot them! Of all the worst things that could happen, this is The! Worst! Possible! Thing!" The next thing she did was magically whisk a couch—all the way from Carousel Boutique, no less!—and collapsed sobbing onto it. "Why, why, why?…Uh?" She quieted down, finding herself on the wrong end of five puzzled/annoyed looks. "What? You didn't expect me to lay on the grass, did you?"

"As a matter of fact, I did," Chronicle replied bluntly. This earned him a glare from her. "And then you would complain about the dirt you just landed on."

Rainbow adjusted her shades (whose supports weren't for pony ears, Chronicle realized) and flopped down across the blanket on her back. The cupcake box landed just behind her head a moment later, with a set of violet hooves visible just behind that. Red-violet eyes peeked up from behind the black lenses. Twilight had arrived, her mane scrambled and her grin deranged. For some reason, a donkey's bray was heard.

Six disconcerted picnickers looked back at her, Rainbow getting up. The grin didn't waver even a hair.

Applejack was the first to speak up. "You all right, hon?"

"No!" she replied. "I am not all right." Her pathetic pout got everypony upright with a chorus of concerned responses. "It's just terrible."

Everypony save Chronicle leaned closer, the stallion knowing what the problem was. "Yes?"

"Simply awful."

"Yes?"

"It's the most horrific trouble I've ever been in and I really, really, really need your help!"

"Yes?"

"My letter to Princess Celestia is almost overdue, and I haven't learned anything about friendship!"

As the stallion did a facehoof in response, the other five relaxed with a unison sigh.

"Oh, thank goodness. I thought something really awful had happened," Fluttershy said.

Twilight can manage only a monkey-like screech as the others (sans Chronicle, whose face began to twitch) turned back to their picnic. She teleported over to Pinkie and Rainbow, startling the latter into dropping her sunglasses. "Something awful has happened!" Then to Rarity, who spat out the punch she was drinking as she reclined on her couch again. "If I don't turn in the letter on time, I'll be tardy!" Finally, she teleported to the center of the group, grabbing at Applejack. "Tardy!"

If the group sigh threw her off balance, the round of laughter that followed this outburst really got her boiling over.

"No offense, sugarcube," said Applejack. "But it looks like somepony's gettin' themselves all worked up over nothin'."

Twilight slapped the orange-tan forelegs away. "This is not nothing! This is everything!" She began darting from one friend to another. "I need you guys to help me find somepony with a problem I can fix before sundown! My whole life depends on it!"

By this time, she ended up nose to nose with Pinkie, whose cheerful demeanor hasn't even been scratched by this tirade. "Oh, Twilight, you're such a crack-up!" she giggled. She promptly tumbled onto her back with a hearty laugh.

"Come on now," said the other earth pony as the party thrower got up. "Have a seat and stop sweatin' the small stuff."

Twilight just voiced an exasperated groan and trotted away, letting off a second one for good measure before teleporting out of the area.

Fluttershy turned to face Applejack. "Wow. I've never seen Twilight so upset before."

"Ugh!" groaned Rarity and the others glanced her way. "What a drama queen!"

"Speak for yourself," grumbled Chronicle, who was keeping in pressure like a kettle.

Rarity gave an embarrassed smile and cleared her throat. "Relatively speaking."

The stallion couldn't take this anymore and blew his top. "WHAT KIND OF FRIENDS ARE YOU?!" he shouted, catching their attention. He then summoned his signature paddle, then proceeded to smack everypony in the face with it once each. When it was Fluttershy's turn, he smacked her **twice**! "I understand that this sort of panicking is probably out of proportion, probably like whatever melodrama Rarity just made, but seriously, you could've done better than just wave her off! Didn't you even wonder what she might do if she lets this **obsession** continue?!" he emphasized the second-to-last word, alluding to his own…episode.

"Oh…" Rarity then said, "I'm starting to get these…slapping sessions, but I don't get why you hit Fluttershy harder than the rest of us? You usually go easy on her."

He turned to look at the pegasus in question. "Because I expected it **least** from her. I'm ashamed! Now if you'll excuse me…" He teleported after Twilight, leaving his friends to ponder on what they've done.

C—TS—A—RD—R—F—PP—C—TS—A—RD—R—F—PP

Eyecatch (video-type) - The show's logo is seen on the center of a clock face, which quickly revolves its hands.

C—TS—A—RD—R—F—PP—C—TS—A—RD—R—F—PP

"Tick tock goes the clock"…

After checking her out via Surveillance, it was safe for Chronicle to say that from Twilight Sparkle's unhinged expression, she had gone crazy…just like "all the ponies in this town" as she had said during their first visit to Ponyville.

"Spike!"

"What is it Chronicle?!"

The two of them managed to meet somewhere in the park, the baby dragon just on his way home.

"Quill and scroll, now!"

"Okay!" Spike quickly produced the two items and started to write.

"Princess Celestia,

Your student Twilight Sparkle is undergoing a mental breakdown due to the weekly deadline for friendship reports. There is only so much one can learn before running out of things to send, and I fear for the worst. With no friendship problem to solve, or even morals/life lessons to learn, I'm afraid she might decide to **make** a friendship problem to solve. Despite telling her that saving the world **twice** should be enough to let you forgive a few mistakes, she thought otherwise. WTB?! Pardon my language. As soon as you receive this letter, conclude any royal business you are currently in and come to Ponyville A.S.A.P.. The fate of the town may depend on it.

Twilight's number one assistant, Spike, and her stalwart bodyguard, Chronicle."

Once the last of it was written, Spike breathed his fire into the letter and it was soon en route to Canterlot. "Okay. Now what?"

"Head to the library and wait for Celestia. I'll do what I can to stop Twilight before the hospital decides to take her to the psycho ward. The letter's a backup plan in case I fail. I'm not infallible, you know."

"Good luck."

With that, Chronicle produced a lock of hair belonging to his charge. It was by chance that he had it. Unfortunately, the pinpointing spell doesn't do DNA matches, so this lock would eventually be useless. He cast the spell, found who he was looking for, and immediately set off.

C—S—C—S—C—S—C—S—C—S—C—S

"X minutes left in the mission"…

In another section of the park, the Cutie Mark Crusaders were playing a simple game of ball. A few bounces later, it came to rest on the grass and exhibited a marked deviation from normal beach ball behavior, swelling out of all proportion and finally bursting. Twilight now stood among the three unnerved fillies, having teleported into the ball.

"Hi, girls!" she greeted, her face like that of a madpony.

"Oh…hi, Twilight," Apple Bloom greeted in return, unaware of the danger she and the others were in. "How's it go—"

"Great. Just great." Sweat rolled down and her eye twitched as she walked toward them. "You three look like you're doing great too! Looks like three good friends who obviously don't need the help of another good friend." At the end of this, she was face to face with Scootaloo, who had scrunched herself into a scared little huddle on the grass.

Now Twilight straightened up (as the pegasus filly backed off) and levitated a battered old pony-shaped rag doll dressed in polka-dotted shorts, with a yarn mane/tail and button eyes. "This is Smarty Pants." She nuzzled the toy. "She was mine when I was your age." She then floated it to the Crusaders. "And now I want to give her to you!"

The three intended recipients eyed it uneasily. "Uh, she's, uh…great," said Scootaloo.

"Yeah…great." Bloom.

Sweetie Belle squinted one eye at it. "I really like her…mane?"

"She even comes with her own notebook and quill—" Twilight gave the items to her and Scootaloo. "—for when you want to pretend she's doing her homework!" She cocked her head to one side as the fillies put away the accessories.

"That's…um…great." Scootaloo.

"Yeah…great," said Bloom as she gave a fake little chuckle, then both her and the pegasus filly nudged Sweetie, who squinted again.

"I really like her…mane?"

"I just hope the fact that there are three of you and only one of her doesn't become a problem," Twilight said, the glow from her horn shining weirdly on her face. "I'd **hate** to cause a rift between **such good friends**." The end of this line came through gritted teeth. Scootaloo twirled a hoof near her temple in the classic "screw loose" gesture for her friends' benefit, now the Smarty Pants doll floated to them. "So, who wants to play with her first?"

All three Crusaders recoiled from it. "Uh…you should play with her first, Sweetie Belle, you know—" Bloom suggested as she galloped off. "—'cause you like her mane so much."

Sweetie was naturally surprised. "No, no, no, no, no, no." She galloped off. "I think Scootaloo should get to play with her first."

"I'd love to, but, um…" Scootaloo turned away, the others only a few feet distant. Sweetie was bulldozing Bloom toward the doll, careful not to poke her. "…you take her, Apple Bloom."

They began trying to push each other toward Smarty Pants. "Applejack says it's important to share."

Twilight was now thinking frantically. apparently, it hadn't gone as planned. "I gotta think of something. Think, think, think, think, think, Twilight, think!" She gasped aloud and slapped her front hooves together. "That's it!" Across the way, the Crusaders were now enthusiastically trying to persuade each other—by sheer brute force—to take one for the team. "Ooh, you're going to like Smarty Pants. And you're going to like her more than anything!"

She leaned her head forward, sending streams of hearts from her horn toward the beat-up thing to disappear into it, and let it hit the ground. The Crusaders stopped their fracas and took notice, their rancor instantly replaced by wondering smiles. As each spoke, her eyes rotated as if they were slot-machine reels, the pupils/irises replaced by hearts.

"I want it!" Scootaloo.

"I need it!" Bloom.

"I really like her mane!" Sweetie.

And then the brawl started all over again—but this time they're grabbing madly at the doll instead of trying to keep away from it.

Twilight straightened up and said, "The Want-It-Need-It spell. Works every time."

TS—AB—S—SB—TS—AB—S—SB—TS—AB—S—SB

"Before the sun sets on her **n**th birthday"…

"I can't believe she used **that** spell!" Chronicle swore to himself as he finally located his charge via Surveillance. _Extremely dangerous. What was Princess Celestia thinking when she taught her that, assuming she didn't pick it up from a book, or worse her parents! No, I shouldn't be thinking like that._

During his early months as Twilight Sparkle's charge, she had used a pony plushie to distract him once. Considering himself above such cheap tricks, he hadn't so much as turn his head. However, a sound made him turn, and the Want-It-Need-It spell cast on the doll did its work. The results were utterly embarrassing, and she was introduced to his slapping paddle, which told her that he was not one to be messed with, even if she was the Princess's student. And that he will even speak against Celestia if he has to.

Now if he could just remember what spell he could use to render himself invulnerable to sight-related magic apart from blindfolding. He knew he found one such spell during his training stint. And then it came to him. As he continued to move, he cast the spell on himself.

Just as he did that, he saw Big Macintosh bypass him. And in his teeth was the doll Twilight had used on him last time; Smarty Pants. And there were hearts in place of irises. Chronicle stopped in his tracks…right close by to the Mayor, interrupting her plan to relax in a beach chair with a good book. Macintosh and the Crusaders were running in a circle, an angry clamor coming from the latter.

"What's all the commotion about?" wondered the mayor.

It turns out that during the chase, other mares have fallen under Twilight's spell.

"They're fighting over that doll!" said the one he recognized as Dizzy Twister as she and more mares raced in.

"That incredible, amazing doll!" cried out Bon Bon.

Within seconds, (both) Chronicle (and Twilight) were watching dozens of ponies slug it out to get at the doll still in Macintosh's teeth. The unicorn stallion had to stifle a laugh at the scene. _If it weren't for the doll, it would look like Macintosh had suddenly became a chick magnet._

The caster of the spell hadn't noticed him and was lunging here and there. "Can't…get a clear shot!"

The other immune pony meanwhile was formulating a safe idea on acquiring the doll. Teleporting it wasn't an option as he hasn't learned to do that from a distance. Destroying it wasn't a good idea either as not only will it hurt his friendship with Twilight, who knows if the resulting pieces would make things worse? Charging his feet, he prepared to do a 'stunt jump'. So far, Macintosh seemed to be holding the prize out of reach, but eventually the mass of assailants began to drag him down. Just before he disappeared under the mob, the Mayor—now also entranced—leaned in, just as Chronicle made his jump.

"Gimme!"

_Uh-oh!_ The unicorn stallion immediately teleported to prevent himself from hurting the mayor. Who knows what terrible images that could produce? Upon emerging on the ground, he saw her run off from the brouhaha. And then a pony—namely Skyla, another of the victims—collided into him, sending the two of them rolling. As he spun, he managed to see that the plethora of mares had been involuntarily sent airborne, some of them sailing over the horizon. As he teleported out of the roll—and managed to emerge on his feet, he also saw one angry red workhorse.

"Nn-nope," said Macintosh as he charged after the Mayor. Chronicle decided to do the same. In seconds, he was finally able to catch up and was now running side-to-side with her.

_Who am I kidding? There's no non-scandalous way out of this._ "Sorry, ma'am," he apologized before blasting her in the face with a magic shot. This forced the mayor to let go of the doll, which he caught in his aura, then teleported to another area of the park.

His reprieve didn't last long however when he saw ponies go close in from all directions. _What the ████?! Again?! Just like with the ticket fiasco._ He began dodging and weaving around the "attackers", not teleporting as it would be too risky. And even if he were to teleport into the air, it would just leave the doll vulnerable to pegasi.

_Oh wait! I could just put this doll in hammerspace! But will they resort to drastic measures if I do that?_ He would never know as he was tackled by Cloud Kicker, who quickly got off of him to continue chasing Smarty Pants, which had fallen off of his arcanokinetic grip and went into the Mayor's mouth again. _This is much harder than I thought._ Chronicle brushed the dust off of himself, then set off again in attempts to stop this madness.

C—TS—T—M—LH—AS—LH—GH—BB—BM—AB—SS—D—DH—MM—M—DT—CK—LB—MM—S—P—D—R—L—BP—S—SB—S

"Mission ends in XX seconds"…

Back at the picnic, Appplejack was snoozing under a tree with a stalk of wheat in her mouth and her hat tilted over her face. The sound of approaching hoofbeats and voices woke her up as Rainbow continued her sunbathing and Pinkie packed up her basket. The picnic blanket lay folded on the grass among the five ponies.

"Y'all hear that?" the farmpony asked. The other four took notice just before the Mayor barreled straight through the area, followed by the entire stampede, Chronicle zooming right behind them. "What in the name of all things oats-and-apples is goin' on here?"

As the Mayor sprinted ahead, Wind Whistler swooped down from above to swipe Smarty Pants. Dizzy Twister promptly moved in and grabbed another part of the doll in her teeth, prompting a vicious tug-of-war that ended with it snapping away from both of them. It landed near Rainbow, whose eyes started to roll over into hearts before she got her head turned away and her eyes covered by Twilight.

"Don't look at it?" she warned.

Rarity came up behind them. "Don't look at what?" Her eyes were covered by Twilight and Rainbow hit the ground.

"My Smarty Pants doll." The six friends were now surrounded by land- and air-based hooficuffs under a late-afternoon sky. The old doll tumbled from one to another as Chronicle darted between them in an attempt to grab Smarty Pants. "I enchanted her and now everypony is fighting over her!"

Fluttershy came up alongside Rarity and asked, "Why would you enchant your doll?" Behind them, Lyra and Bon Bon were in their own 'fight cloud'.

Twilight was now huddled in front of the others. "Well, I had to do something! I had nothing to report to Princess Celestia! I thought if I couldn't find a problem, I'd make a problem! The day is almost over!"

Applejack looked skyward. "Not almost."

At the horizon, the sun slowly descended out of sight and the sky darkened into evening. Twilight let her head slump down onto the grass, hunkering miserably down as if trying to get the earth to swallow her whole, her friends gathered around her.

As he continued to try and get the enchanted doll, Chronicle almost expected a voice to say, You've failed!", followed with a chorus of boos. What he got instead was just as startling, however.

"Twilight Sparkle!" he heard Princess Celestia call out sharply. Those two words threw a full-scale scare into the group of six as rays of white light shone down from above and an approaching aura began to wash out the view. The regent was hovering a few yards overhead and looking plenty sore.

"Whoa, Nelly," said Applejack. She removed her hat just before Celestia flared her horn, throwing off an intense light that washed over the knots of brawling ponies. When it fades, they were seen standing and lying in mid-grapple, their eyes back to normal and with no earthly idea of how they wound up here. Chronicle immediately halted upon seeing that the problem has been taken care of.

Derpy and the Mayor found themselves face to face, the doll landing near them, and all eyed it with considerable surprise and disgust. The Mayor's face went bright red (this would certainly qualify as conduct unbecoming a public official) and she trotted away, stepping on the plaything so that it emitted a small squeak. The other ponies quickly dispersed to leave it alone on the grass.

Only the stallions remained, both of them eying it from a distance. Macintosh gave a furtive look around, and saw Chronicle, who did the motions for a Pinkie Swear, vowing not to tell a soul. The earth pony straightened up with a giddy little neigh as he picked up Smarty Pants in his teeth, reared up, and galloped away. The unicorn could swear he saw hearts float up around him, even though Twilight's spell had been neutralized.

With this episode behind him, he made his way back to his friends as the glow of Celestia's spell faded away and she touched down in front of Twilight. The other five cringed, wondering how bad things are about to get, and Applejack had put her hat back on.

"Meet me in the library," Celestia spoke levelly to Twilight before lifting off.

Twilight slowly got up and spoke softly. "Goodbye, girls. If you care to visit, I'll be in Magic Kindergarten…" She began to trudge away. "…back in Canterlot."

Fluttershy turned to Rarity. "Magic Kindergarten?"

"Canterlot?" Rainbow.

Pinkie popped up. "We're never gonna see Twilight again!" She clap her hooves to her face. "And what of Chronicle?"

Applejack gasped softly, sitting next to her. "What are we gonna do, y'all?"

Rarity went into full drama mode. "Of all the worst things that could happen, this is The! Worst! Possible! Thing!" Four puzzled/vexed onlookers surrounded her. "What? I really mean it this time!"

"It damn sure is," said another voice.

Everypony turned to see Chronicle. Pinkie was the first to speak to him. "Chronicle! If Twilight's headed back to Canterlot, are you too?"

The stallion shook his head. "No. In case I never told you or you forgot, I'm only a freelancer, bodyguarding being my main job. My loyalty isn't to money though—however good the stipend is—but to what is right. Even if I have to do some 'wrong' things so that others don't have to. I can always arrange a new contract to have me stay here and protect the **other** Keepers of the Elements of Harmony. That means you girls."

He paused to let all of this as well as Twilight's 'farewell' sink in. Once he was sure that was done, he said, "What are we standing here for? What if Princess Celestia actually does what Twilight assumes she's going to do? We're her friends, right?" He then started to run straight for the library…and smiled a bit at seeing the others follow him.

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"Your time's up"…

It took a while, but the group finally reached the library. Applejack, Fluttershy, and Pinkie tumbled in, nearly knocking the front door off its hinges. Rarity and Chronicle trotted in past them, but Rainbow flew over them and was first into the reading room. Twilight seemed to have cleaned herself up.

"Wait!" cried out the pegasus.

Pinkie zipped in. "You can't punish her!"

Applejack ditto. "It wasn't her fault!"

"I'm listening," Celestia replied.

Now Fluttershy sat by her. "Please, Your Highness. We all saw that Twilight was upset."

"But we thought that the thing that she was worrying about wasn't worth worrying about," Rainbow said as Pinkie nuzzled Twilight's neck.

"So when she ran off all worked up, not a single one of us tried to stop her." Applejack. "We're all ashamed that Chronicle was the only one to even try."

"As Twilight's good friends, we should have taken her feelings seriously and been there for her." Rarity.

"That's right, girls. You should've." Chronicle. _Ugh. Being the only sane one has its disadvantages, and even I went crazy once._

Celestia cocked an eyebrow quizzically at this string of pleadings.

"Please don't take her away from us just because we were too insensitive to help her." Fluttershy.

_And I'll double the smacking if they ever do it again._

The winged unicorn turned this over in her mind for a second, then smiled placidly. "Looks like you all learned a pretty valuable lesson today."

"Mmm-hmm!" agreed everypony, the stallion's sounding disgruntled.

Celestia's shadow fell over her student as she gave a smile. "Very well. I'll forget Twilight's punishment on one condition." She bounded over the entire group toward the door. She then looked back over her shoulder to the sound of enthusiastic responses from the mares. "From this day forth, I would like you all to report to me your findings on the magic of friendship—" She leaned down close to her star pupil. "—when, and only when, you happen to discover them." She backed off, bringing a grateful smile to Twilight's face as the others cheered this decision. The smile soon gave way to puzzlement as the Princess prepared to depart.

"Princess Celestia, wait! How did you know I was in trouble?" Twilight called as she galloped out to her.

"Your friends Spike and Chronicle made me aware that you were letting your fears get the best of you." Said dragon was peeking out the open doorway, then ducked back in. The stallion in question was walking over to them. "I commend them for taking your feelings seriously."

"That's what friends are supposed to be for," he said as the the others stepped up. "Also, Twilight, you should know by now that sweating over small problems just makes bigger problems, given the…welcome parade and Philomena incidents." 'Parasprite' was a forbidden word to mention when both Princess and student are present.

"Now…if you will all excuse me, I must return to Canterlot. I'm expecting some mail." She lifted off and flew a short distance through the night sky before disappearing with a flash. After Twilight watched her exit, she walked back in to the rest of the gang inside the door.

"Y'all heard the Princess," Applejack said. "Spike, take a letter."

He instantly produced a quill and scroll. Before anyone can start though, a violet foreleg landed on his shoulders and Twilight pulled him in for a warm hug. She did the same for her bodyguard, who returned her smile.

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"A last-minute reminder"…

The group was now in the reading room. Spike was at a stand, ready to write, and the others stood/sat/lay around the place. Rarity was seated on a cushion, and Applejack—holding her hat—cleared her throat and started to dictate.

"Dear Princess Celestia: We're writin' to you because today we all learned a little somethin' about friendship."

Fluttershy was next. "We learned that you should take your friends' worries seriously—"

Rainbow. "—even if you don't think that she has anything to worry about—"

Rarity. "—and that you shouldn't let your worries turn a small problem—"

Pinkie. "—into an enormously huge, entire-town-in-total-chaos, Princess-has-to-come-and-save-the-day problem." She punctuated her bit of this report by jumping up, striking a dramatic flying pose while hanging in midair, and thumping back to the floor.

Applejack at this point replaced her hat. "Signed, your loyal subjects." She then backed off.

Spike began to write his own section quickly. "P.S. Obviously Spike did not have to learn a lesson because he is the best, most awesome friend a pony could ask for. Unlike everypony else (save Chronicle), he took things seriously and—"

Twilight walked up to the stand on the end of this to give him a thoroughly disapproving look and head shake, followed by more of the same from the others.

Spike gave a nervous laughing. "Uh…yeah." He drew a large X over the last several lines. "I'll just, um…" He grumpily snorted out a puff of steam as the six mares laughed.

The stallion however decided to speak up. "Here's another lesson. Enjoy the times when you haven't any trouble. Because for one whose life is filled with adventure, an uneventful day is a good day." He turned to face his friends. "I think I understand why Twilight had this breakdown. You see, she was having post-traumatic stress disorder, and I pretty much think we all had/have that after Discord. Given that and the fact that it was these friendship reports that saved her, _of course_ she's going to value order and her lessons afterward!" _So far, out of all of us, regrettably including myself, only Rarity hasn't suffered a breakdown. The drama queen thing must be how she copes._

He paused yet again to let this sink in, then gave a smirk as he looked between two friends he would take more seriously than the others. "Twilight, just for the record, Fluttershy didn't snap that bear's neck. She was just doing chiropractic therapy. That was why I didn't go out of my way to defend her."

"Seriously?!" asked his charge as she turned to look at the pegasus in question, who nodded.

_Why do I get the feeling that 'stupidity' is lingering? I'll have to be diligent in keeping my own sanity for their sakes. I will __**not**__ go insane again. For their sake._

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nightelf37: The time-related phrases in place of some of the post-transition phrases are just a joke. Let's see if you can find all the references I made. These won't be appearing in future chapters. "Tick tock, doc." comes from a low-tier film titled "88 Minutes".

For all those who are not liking the pair, this story will also be about building it. as best as I can anyway. See ya on Third!


	2. Luna Eclipsed (Flashback Chapter)

nightelf37: Here's a flashback chapter, which I personally place during the events of Season 1. It's part of my making this work with the Extra I'm planning on. If Chronicle is acting out-of-character, it's because he's not only wearing a costume, he's also cosplaying. Not to mention so into the event. And if there are inconsistencies, he's just slipping.

Just in case I discontinue this, I'll mention the reason why Mystic Shield doesn't want to have anything to do with Canterlot: it has to do with another unicorn with the same specialty as him. But it's not because of that that he hates him, but because of something mentioned in the chapter "Suited For Success".

Also, Happy New Year, everybrony!

SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM

**Luna Eclipsed**

Golden Oaks Library…

Spike was pacing the floor in the library's reading room…in a costume resembling himself. Its body hide was purple with lighter-shaded spots, the underbelly was light green, and its head's eyes' sclera were yellow. Spike's lighter purple hand protruded from the end of the arms and his head protruded from the mouth.

With him was Chronicle, who was dressed in something very special. He was sporting a short dress, with a set of boots to match it. The dress was light blue and the skirt was colored like the sky with three layers and ruffles. The boots were baby blue with pearl bracelets on them. He wore star-shaped earrings and a very wavy blue wig with two star-shaped barrettes on its bangs. To top it off, he had contact lenses to make his eyes look blue as well as fake eyelashes to 'accentuate' his costume. (1)

Finally, the dragon stopped and groaned impatiently. "Come on, Twilight. We're gonna be late for the Nightmare Night Festival!"

"Now, now, Spike," Chronicle answered, his voice very girly and "genki" thanks to a voice modulator he ordered from Hub Equestria, which he passed off as a spell. "You know girls, they take plenty of time to prepare for special events." He put a hoof to his chin. "Or maybe that's just girls like Rarity."

Finally, she emerged from the top of the stairs and lifted her head proudly. She had donned a long robe and pointed wizard's hat in three shades of blue, both liberally decorated with stars and moons and hung with jingle bells at hem, brim, and hat peak. The robe's gold/white collar was secured with a gold brooch, and the a long white beard hung nearly to her knees.

"Huh? Are you that one kooky grandpa from Ponyville Retirement Village?" he asked as she came downstairs.

Twilight was annoyed at this. "I'm Starswirl the Bearded!" He just blinked stupidly at her. "Father of the amniomorphic spell?" Still nothing. "Did you even read that book I gave you about obscure unicorn history?"

"Um…" There was a pounding at the front door and he broke out in a sweat. "…that sounds important!"

Off he went, fast enough to set his boss spinning in place so that her cape and beard ended up wrapped tightly around her. Chronicle decided to follow the baby dragon, trotting merrily to "keep in character". Upon reaching the door and opening it, they were greeted by a trio of fillies in costumes of their own.

"Nightmare Night, what a fright!  
Give us something sweet to bite!"

One princess, one astronaut, one ladybug, each with a sack hung around her neck—and Granny Smith as a chaperone. Spike eyed them with some relief, having caught a break from Twilight's chewing out about his lack of history savvy, and stepped back in as she came to the door. Her own outfit was back in order, along with her good spirits.

"Hi, everypony!" she greeted "Great costumes. Happy Nightmare Night, Granny Smith."

"I should have been asleep five hours ago!"

Spike came back to the door, carrying a bowl of candy, and Chronicle levitated a piece into each filly's sack. A fourth youngster then bulled through them. It was a brown/white pinto earth pony colt, dressed as a pirate complete with eyepatch and a toy cutlass clamped in his teeth. A tuft of two-tone brown mane protruded from the edge of the red kerchief on his head, and his one visible eye was bright and so deep red as to be nearly black. He tried a few swings of the cutlass, but lost his balance and went down on his face. The three library residents smiled at the display as he got up to his hind legs and saluted, speaks with what Chronicle recognized as a British accent.

"Pipsqueak the pirate at your service! It's my very first Nightmare Night."

"Since you moved here from Trottingham?" asked Twilight.

"No, my very first Nightmare Night **ever**!"

Pinkie Pie, as a chicken, popped up among the young ponies with a loud squawk. She had even stuck a little beak on the end of her nose and was standing on two legs as the poultry would. "Enough chit-chat! Time is candy!" she demanded as she pecked at the ground.

"Pinkie Pie, aren't you a little old for this?" Chronicle asked.

"Too old for free candy? *squawk* Never!" The puzzled unicorn mare just groaned to herself.

"All right. One piece for the adult chicken," said the stallion crossdresser as he floated a piece into Pinkie's bag.

"Thanks!" She then noticed him. "Hey, Chronicle! Nice costume! Who are you supposed to be? You kinda sound like Skyla."

"Sound Wave, one of the three main members of P3, an idol singer group famed in Equestria's East Coast. (2) …Wow. Didn't think you'd recognize me at first sight." He decided to ignore the comment on his voice.

Before Pinkie could reply, her attention was turned to the bell on the peak of Twilight's hat as she swung it close to her face and showed off her getup. "Do you like it?" she asked.

"Yeah, great costume, Twilight! Oh, you make a fantastic weirdo clown!" she swiftly lunged and pecked at the candy in Spike's bowl (only prevented thanks to a quick barrier spell from Chronicle), then bugged out.

Twilight was naturally irked. "A clown?!" They stepped out, Spike closing the door. "Look at the borders on these robes! These are hoof-stitched!"

"It's a great costume…" Spike said as he walked off with a derisive chuckle. "…Grandpa!" This elicited another snarling from his boss.

"You know, I thought I was gonna be the first outright crossdresser for Nightmare Night," Chronicle giggled.

"Crossdresser?"

"You know, ponies who dress up in clothes appropriate for the opposite gender. At least I'm 'mare-faced' enough to look the part. This'll be a blast!" Assuming Twilight was going to worry about his sanity, he whispered, "I'm just acting in character, don't worry. Also, try not to tell anypony else who I am. Let them figure it out for themselves. Or let me do the revealing." He let off another giggle.

C—TS—S—GS—PP—P—C—TS—S—GS—PP—P

As the three walked down the town square, Chronicle decided to take a look at the scenery and festival-goers. There were snack carts, strings of lights hung with skulls, and black busts of Nightmare Moon hanging from the balconies. Dizzy Twister was a lion, Lemon Hearts a mouse, and Minuette as a dental surgeon. Big Macintosh was pulling a hay wagon loaded with more happy partiers, and has donned a dark top hat and tailcoat, the latter depicting a skull-marked apple over his haunch. On the wagon was Cherry Berry as a bee, Raindrops as a Viking, and Cloud Kicker as a witch.

"Starswirl the Bearded is only the most important conjurer of the pre-classical era," she ranted amidst cheers from the riders. "He created more than two hundred spells. He even has a shelf in the Canterlot Library of Magic named after him!"

They walked through a dance with a four-piece band, where he saw Sea Swirl as a knight with armored shoes and flail tail, Golden Harvest as a devil/vampire mix, Wind Whistler as Equestria's version of Queen Cleopatra, and someone dressed up as a "ninja". Apparently, one of the extended members of the Apple family named Fiddlesticks is dressed up as a scarecrow along with the rest of her band mates. Curiously, she looked like Octavia Melody, a Canterlot musician.

Eventually, Twilight's irritation began to subside. "Maybe I should start up a pony group to teach ponies about history." She gave off a smile. "I bet everypony would love it. Don't you, Spike?"

During her rant, Spike had somehow acquired a a mound of candy nearly as tall as he and was gorging himself. "Mmm-hmm! I love it."

"Maybe you should go for somepony more generic," suggested Chronicle. "Star Swirl is from **Obscure** Unicorn History, after all. I remember the last Nightmare Night I took part in where my charge, an insufferable genius, decided to dress up as the **doppler effect**. A freaking concept!" He also saw Mr. and Mrs. Cake dressed up as pony versions of Raggedy Andy and Raggedy Ann, and Lyra Heartstrings as a mummy.

"Seriously?" she asked as they stopped.

"Seriously."

Spike suddenly ran into the crossdressing mare and tumbled to the ground in an avalanche of sweet stuff. "Hey, look, we're here already! Should we get something to eat?" She then took stock of the supine dragon and his overstuffed belly as he lets off a hearty belch.

"Perhaps somepony more well-known to the general public and more aligned to your gender."

"This coming from the crossdresser."

"True. Maybe a certain _showmare_ might spark some ideas."

"I am NOT gonna dress up as Trixie and that's final!"

"All right, all right." _Speaking of which, I wonder how she's doing? I sure hope she's faring well._

Just then, Pinkie and Pip zipped up to the three. "Twilight, Twilight, look at our haul!" the mare-filly said as she held her own full sack into view and let out a giddy squeal. "Can you believe it?" Just as at the library front step, she started pecking madly at the goodies to stuff her face.

Chronicle turned to the roof of a nearby, heavily decorated building, to see Rainbow Dash…dressed up as a Shadowbolt. She ran an eye over the scene and ducked out of sight, unaware that somepony had already caught sight of her. And was watching as she moved a black cloud over to them.

"And then, we went to Cheerilee's house and we got a bunch more goodies—didn't we, Pip?" Pinkie continued.

"Sure did!"

"And then we had to stop and wait for Granny Smith and—"

"Watch out!" gasped Chronicle as he conjured a panel barrier—which intercepted the lightning bolt. The crash however prompted her into a terrified squawk and escape. The blast also sent Pip and his friends galloping with a scream and dumped Spike on his back. Rainbow's belly laugh floated down to an annoyed Twilight, who turned to address her.

"Rainbow Dash! That wasn't very nice!"

"Lighten up, old-timer. This is the best night of the year for pranks."

"Look what you did to Spike!" The baby dragon was still laid out by his candy and trying to hack up a piece caught in his throat.

"Aw, it's all in good fun." Rainbow then noticed who she was with. "Hey, who's that you're with? And where's Chronicle?" She saw the other mare pull up her hair, revealing it to be a wig, as well as showing a familiar carrot-top-blond mane. Her wings unfurled as a result.

"Surprised?" asked the blue unicorn teasingly as he put the wig back.

The pegasus quickly recovered by changing the subject and looking elsewhere. "Oh, oh! There's another group over there!" She then bulldozed the cloud away. Throwing a slightly exasperated glance at her unconscious assistant, Twilight levitated him onto her back and walked away. Chronicle inspected him, making sure he wasn't going to die. He would later admonish his charge for her careless behavior since Spike was her responsibility.

In the distance, Rainbow set off her lightning once again, prompting a fresh wave of screams, before moving it once again as she laughed herself stupid.

C—TS—S—RD—PP—P—C—TS—S—RD—PP—P

Later…

The trio reached an apple bobbing game which had Ace, Carrot Top, and Lemon Hearts as the players, and Applejack—dressed as a scarecrow—presiding over the game.

"Happy Nightmare Night, Applejack," Twilight greeted.

"Howdy, Spike!" she greeted in return. "Hey, Twilight! Nice costume."

"Thanks! I'm a dragon."

This got him a dirty look from Twilight. "She means me, Spike."

"With that beard…" The scarecrow toyed with it. "…I reckon you're some sorta country music singer." This guess got Twilight steamed and groaning all over again as Spike laughed.

"Seriously? Country music singer?" said Chronicle. "How the hay did you even come up with that conclusion?"

And that's when Applejack noticed, but not recognized, him. "Who's this new fella, Twi? Old friend from Canterlot, perhaps?"

The stallion crossdresser giggled. "Friend from Canterlot, yes. Old, not exactly." Once again, he raised his wig to reveal his mane, resulting in a startled reaction.

"Whoa, nelly! Does that mean you're in costume too?"

"Well, duh." Chronicle rolled his eyes.

"Well, who're you supposed to be?"

"He's supposed to be Sound Wave, one of the members of the idol singer group P3, who are famed in Equestria's East Coast," Twilight answered.

"I think I heard a bit about 'em from my cousins in Manehatten. The other two core members of th' group were named Jasmine Trinity and Sealight Glisten, the latter bein' the 'leader'." She soon decided to change the subject. "Anyways, while y'all are here, you feel like bobbin' for an apple?"

At the tub, Carrot was ready for another game and this time, she was joined by Derpy Hooves—the former wearing only paper bags on her head and hooves. Before the earth pony could even get her face in the water, her pegasus friend surfaced with the end of a chain in her teeth, having gone for a dive without being noticed. One tug on the chain brought up a drain plug and emptied the tub in seconds, to the dismay of both.

"No thanks. This wig might fall off. Maybe after you refill the tub."

The general attention quickly transferred itself to the stage where the band Fiddlesticks was in was seen earlier. A cheering crowd had gathered on the dance floor, and Mayor Mare stood at a lectern on the stage. She had done herself up as a clown, including a red rubber-ball nose and multicolored wig. She also had an oversize polka-dotted tie at her shirt collar. Her tail was done up in stripes as well.

"Thank you, everypony, and welcome to the Nightmare Night Festival!" she announced. There was more cheering as Twilight, Chronicle, and Spike made their way through the crowd. "Now, all the little ponies who have been out collecting sweets should follow our friend Zecora to hear the legend of…" She paused to make her next words ominous. "…Nightmare Moon!" She let off a mad laugh.

"Her spooky voice might work better if she wasn't dressed like that," Spike commented.

"Eh, I've heard of ponies who are scared of clowns," Chronicle remarked. "But yes, it could've been better. Maybe lose the wig and corrupt the design a bit and she'll be a really scary clown."

Twilight laughed softly and the Mayor gestured off to one side. This patch of the stage was unoccupied, but a blast of sparkling, luminescent green smoke promptly filled it. From this rose the head and shoulders of the resident zebra to the sound of appreciative murmurs from the audience. Zecora's mane was covered by a long white wig filled with spiders, and the neckline of her garment was secured with a gold bat brooch.

"Follow me, and very soon, you'll hear the tale of Nightmare Moon." On these last two words, she threw the folds of a long dark cloak over in front of the audience.

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The onlookers were gathered in front of Zecora in a slightly overgrown clearing (NOT the Everfree Forest). The full moon shone overhead, and behind Zecora stood a statue of the malevolent winged unicorn.

"Listen close, my little dears. I'll tell you where you got your fears." She leaned toward the fillies. "Of Nightmare Night, so dark and scary…" A bit of glowing green dust was produced and blown upward into the air. "…Of Nightmare Moon, who makes you wary."

The smoke formed into a specter of Nightmare that dove toward the group; they cry out at it hit the ground and dissipated. Chronicle had been told beforehoof not to interfere, for the Nightmare Moon she's making isn't real. Pip and the ladybug filly (he remember was named Piña Colada) looked uneasily around themselves, not seeing the two staring eyes in the dust cloud behind them.

"Every year we put on a disguise…" A vicious grin appeared as well. "To save ourselves from her searching eyes." As they screamed and cut out, Zecora emerged from the dust, revealing her to have been the source of the eyes and grin. Pip ran and bumped into the statue's pedestal.

"But Nightmare Moon wants just one thing—" Pip backed away. "To gobble up ponies in one quick swing!"

He bumped into Pinkie, who had buried her entire head in the dirt like an ostrich. The hit scared the daylights out of both and sent them fleeing in opposite directions. Zecora threw some more dust, creating another Nightmare Moon illusion.

"Hungrily she soars the sky…" It swooped down toward three fillies, two of whom are Scootaloo as a werewolf and Sweetie Belle as a vampire. Nightmare's head and forelegs formed, as she peered around, then vanished. "If she sees nopony, she passes by." It went over to Pip and his three buddies for a brief look before floating away. "So if she comes and all is clear," It went up to the sky. "Equestria is safe another year!"

The full-body apparition formed with the moon as a backdrop, then disintegrated into a shower of sparkling dust particles. At the end of the show, Pip tugged at Zecora's cloak.

"Um, Miss Zecora…" He asked as the others gathered closer. Notably, his accent was gone, probably having affecting it earlier. "…if we were cautioned to hide from Nightmare Moon so she won't gobble us up, how come we still need to give her some of our candy?"

"A perfect question, my little friend, for Nightmare Moon you must not offend." She blew more dust over his head and he backed off as it formed into Nightmare's full shape. "Fill up her belly with a treat or two…" The specter tensed. "So she won't return to come eat YOU!"

On the end of this, she leaped at the group with her mouth open to expose every single razor-edged tooth in it. She disintegrated on impact, and Pinkie let off a shrill scream and led a charge over to the statue. Here, Chronicle spotted Apple Bloom dressed as the Bride of Frankenpony, with her mane and tail both done up in the character's white-streaked black bouffant. Dinky was there too, dressed up as a firefighter.

"Everypony, let's dump some candy and get outta here!" she said as she threw down her entire stash.

The wind began to kick up, and a nervous glance overhead revealed that clouds have begun to swirl around the full moon and close in to block out the night sky. Twilight and Zecora both stared speechlessly as a flash of moonlight blazed through the clouds and a black silhouette rode the rays toward ground level.

This consisted of a figure in a spiked, bat-winged chariot pulled by two pegasi on chain reins. A unicorn horn can be seen from the hooded driver's head. The mounts revealed to be gray pegasus stallions with bat wings and reptilian green eyes, wearing blue armor with bat-wing crests on their helmets.

The chariot bore down on the group, all of whom immediately cried out and back away except for Twilight and Chronicle; the mare and Spike eventually ducked and cover as the looming shadow rocketed overhead while the stallion entered a battle stance.

The silhouetted vehicle and pegasi now hovered at low altitude. Chronicle curiously didn't have his "magic horn blade" out but instead had what looked like a special white microphone 'held' close to his lips, as if he was about to respond to this by singing. _Wait a second… Bat-wing pegasi? Could this be…_ His train of thought was interrupted as Pinkie popped up in front of her with a terrified gasp.

"It's Nightmare Moon! RUUUNNN!"

She peeled out as fast as her drumsticks would carry her, as did Spike and all the youngsters—with Zecora and Pip bringing up the rear. Twilight and her bodyguard were the only ones left in the clearing. Lighting crackled around the chariot driver's head, swathed in a dark gray-green hood. Two eyes glowed pure white under the horn and lowered brows, with an unsettling little grin under a mare's nose. The rest of the face still appeared as only a lightless silhouette, and the eyes and mouth faded from view once the lightning died down.

C—TS—S—AB—D—PP—Z—S—SB—P—C—TS—S—AB—D—PP—Z—S—SB—P

Eyecatch (picture-type) - A bust of Nightmare Moon carved into a jack-o-lantern. The show's logo is seen on top of it.

C—TS—S—AB—D—PP—Z—S—SB—P—C—TS—S—AB—D—PP—Z—S—SB—P

At the town square…

Back in Ponyville, the merriment was in full swing, but the stampede of the screaming Pinkie—up on her hind legs, with forelegs tucked in like a chicken's wings—and young ponies drew a round of puzzled gazes, but these soon turned to worry and fear as a broad shadow cast itself over the area. Up in the sky, thick clouds have spread here as well, and the black flying chariot arrived right after them. As the two ponies who haven't panicked from this newcomer's arrival went over, Chronicle with his microphone close to his mouth, the driver leaped nimbly out and down to the street.

The first feature visible under the figure's gray-green cloak was a set of four dark blue-violet forelegs clad in light blue shoes, and the hood was thrown back in time with a crack of lightning.

Once it faded, the crossdressing stallion 'lowered' his microphone upon recognizing the face. It was Princess Luna—Princess Celestia's younger sister, whom they haven't seen since first acquiring the Elements of Harmony. The dark blue, almost black tiara set behind her horn was there, along with the lighter blue shadow on her eyelids, and the edge of her crescent-moon necklace can be seen under the cloak's edge.

However, three things have noticeably changed since that first appearance. One: her coat and mane have darkened noticeably. Two: with the exception of the forelock, her entire mane had become a long, sparkly, translucent mass of hair that waved gently on its own as Celestia's does. Three, the haughty gaze from those blue-green eyes indicated that any traces of fear or uncertainty from before were entirely gone. Four: she also seemed taller, but she was still in fact the same height as before; her confident posture just gave off that illusion, just as one certain hero popular to the Story Crew can conceal his identity by just wearing glasses and acting wimpy.

Everypony hit the deck for a deep bow with two exceptions. Chronicle 'raised' his microphone again in a defensive stance; who knows what this change in appearance could entail? Twilight gaped for a moment, then broke into a smile. "Princess Luna!"

She started forward, but the still-bowing Spike dragged her down and put a finger to her lips. Luna advanced toward the group, her cloak breaking apart into a swarm of bats that flapped away. Her tail had undergone the same change as her mane, and she certainly looked more slender. When she spread her wings, they too were larger than before. Cloud Kicker glanced up just in time to find the royal pony standing over her. The small smile that came over the latter's face only served to scare the bejesus out of her and every other pony in the vicinity.

Now Luna spoke, making one more change instantly obvious: her voice. Imperious, reverberating, and with enough volume to cause wind gusts that would capsize a battleship. Well, maybe not a battleship, though a water tank would certainly be sent rolling if she were to do what she was doing now in front of it.

"CITIZENS OF PONYVILLE! WE HAVE GRACED YOUR TINY VILLAGE WITH OUR PRESENCE, SO THAT YOU MIGHT BEHOLD THE REAL PRINCESS OF THE NIGHT!" She began to walk among them. "A CREATURE OF NIGHTMARES NO LONGER, BUT INSTEAD A PONY WHO DESIRES YOUR LOVE AND ADMIRATION!" The audience slowly backed away save for Twilight and her bodyguard. "TOGETHER WE SHALL CHANGE THIS DREADFUL CELEBRATION INTO A BRIGHT AND GLORIOUS FEAST!"

There came another lightning strike, after which a frightened Pinkie stood up. "Did you hear that, everypony? Nightmare Moon says she's gonna feast on us all!"

What's next was a collective scream and clear out of the place, leaving a couple of prostrate ponies and a very puzzled Princess. Luna now spoke at a volume closer to normal, but with the same general tone. "What? No, children, no! You no longer have reason to fear us! Screams of delight is what your Princess desires, not screams of terror!"

She brought down one front hoof, hard enough to crack the ground, barely missing a Lemon Hearts's nose and prompting a little whimper. Luna's next look was directed behind herself, toward the Mayor. "Madame Mayor—" The night princess stepped toward her. "—thy Princess of the Night hath arrived!"

She thrust a front hoof toward the Mayor, who sobbed in fear and covered her face. Luna did not notice this reaction for a moment, and it sat very badly with her when she did, and a bespectacled white mare in a devil cape, horns, and tail got a hoof pointed at her next. Gasp, cower, cover the face. "What is the matter with you?" She got the same results with the others that remained and it began to annoy her. Not once were the two crossdressers pointed at.

"Very well, then! Be that way!" she finally said a bit petulantly. Twilight lifted her eyes a hair as Luna walked off. "We won't even bother with the traditional royal farewell!"

Chronicle eased up a bit as his charge got up. "I'm gonna go talk to her," she said. Before she can even manage two steps, a yank on her robe and a grunt pointed up Spike's successful effort to stop her.

"You can't talk to her! She's Nightmare Moon," he pleaded. The robe was yanked loose.

"No, she's not. I saw the Elements of Harmony change her back to good." She began to walk off, her bodyguard accompanying her. "But it seems like she's having some trouble adjusting after being gone for a thousand years."

"And don't worry, Spike," assured Chronicle as he 'put away' his microphone. "I fought Nightmare Moon before. I can do it again." _I wonder if Celestia has something to do with this?_

C—TS—S—PP—PL—C—TS—S—PP—PL—C—TS—S—PP—PL

Back in (NOT) the (Everfree) forest…

The two crossdressing ponies found Luna sitting in front of the Nightmare statue, lost in thought, and stopped short just a few paces away from the shadow cast by the statue.

"Princess Luna?" Twilight started. "Hi. My name is—"

Luna cut her off as she stood up and faced the two. "Starswirl the Bearded. Commendable costume. Thou even got the bells right."

"Thank you! Finally, somepony who gets my costume!"

Luna stared uncertainly at her before turning to face Chronicle, "And thou art dressed as Sound Wave of the P3 singing idol group, correct? Their music is quite remarkable."

"You know of that group?"

"Thy art familiar with their songs." (3)

Twilight then decided to speak again. "Uh…I just came to welcome you to our celebration. My actual name is—"

"Twilight Sparkle," Luna finished. "And thou companion wouldst be the brave Chronicle, who serves as your knight?"

The blue unicorn did his best to stifle a laugh from the 'knight' comment while containing his shock that the princess saw through his costume immediately before she spoke once more. The wind kicked up in time with her voice as she slowly floated free of the ground, summoning a fresh mass of clouds to fill the sky.

"IT WAS THOU WHO UNLEASHED THE POWERS OF HARMONY UPON US AND TOOK AWAY OUR DARK POWERS!"

The two unicorns were blown a few feet backward before the gusts stopped. Chronicle used his magic to keep his wig from flying off.

"And…that was a good thing, right?" asked Twilight.

Luna landed before the two. "But of course. We could not be happier. Is that not clear?"

"Well, you kinda sound like you're yelling at us."

"But this is the traditional royal Canterlot voice. It is tradition to speak using the royal "we" and to use THIS MUCH VOLUME WHEN ADDRESSING OUR SUBJECTS!"

The end of this line left Twilight wearing her beard sideways and her hat askew; Chronicle learned from the previous 'shout' and had conjured a barrier around his head. After getting themselves straightened out, the crossdressing mare put on the politest smile she can manage.

"You know, that might explain why your appearance was met with…mixed results."

"I didn't see you as a threat though, just very…uhh…what was the word?" He couldn't use "hammy" due to their vegetarian diet. "Pretentious. Over-the-top."

"I think if you just changed your approach a bit, you might be met with a warmer reception," his charge continued as she moved close to the ruler and put a hoof on her shoulder, but pulled it back upon getting a very funny look in return.

"CHANGE OUR APPROACH?"

"Lower the volume."

"Oh. We have been locked away for a thousand years. We are…not sure we can."

"Oh come on, your…darker self was able to speak normally when we first confronted her," Chronicle said. "Granted, she was instilling fear, but still."

Luna gave no response to that.

C—TS—PL—C—TS—PL—C—TS—PL—C—TS—PL

Later…

The three went to Fluttershy's cottage, all of whose windows were dark. Twilight and Chronicle led Luna toward the front door.

"Don't worry, Princess," Twilight said. "Fluttershy can give you some great pointers. She's delicate and demure, with the sweetest little voice." She knocked on the door. It remained closed, but Fluttershy's panicked voice came with enough force to nearly burst it off the hinges.

"Go away! No candy here! Visitors not welcome on Nightmare Night!"

Twilight manages an embarrassed little laugh in response to Luna's dirty look. "She's also extremely timid, and is probably trying to keep others away given the holiday's theme," explained Chronicle. "I've been training her in bravery, but progress is very slow."

His charge addressed herself toward the door. "Fluttershy, it's me, Twilight!" She remembered Chronicle's request not to reveal his identity and decided to leave it to him, also as he requested.

The door opened slightly, the house's owner peeking out "It is you!" She then opened it to reveal the others. "Oh, and Sound Wave of the P3, and Nightmare Moon." She then realized what she said, and got out a little gasp as her pupils constricted to terrified points within the big blue-green irises. "Nightmare Moon?!" What followed was a scream, and a slam of the door.

Twilight forced out another laugh. "Wait right here," she told Luna.

"I'm coming with," said Chronicle as the two of them stepped up, let themselves in, and closed the door.

What happened inside would remain unmentioned in detail. Namely, Fluttershy had picked a bad time to apply her lessons and assaulted them. The 'fight' was rather quick and it only stopped when she had knocked off Chronicle's wig. This distracted her enough for Twilight to restrain her, reopen the door, and shove her onto the step.

"Fluttershy…" Twilight said with a grunt as her bodyguard readjusted his wig. "…you remember Princess Luna."

Luna held out out a hoof. "CHARMED!"

Fluttershy zipped back inside, but was stopped her in her tracks by Chronicle before being levitated by Twilight through the doorway and was turned around to face the blue-violet visitor. "Likewise," she replied in a small voice.

"TWILIGHT SPARKLE HAS SPOKEN OF THE SWEETNESS OF THY VOICE! WE ASK THAT THOU TEACHEST US TO SPEAK AS THOU SPEAKEST!"

Fluttershy was now with an even smaller voice as she huddled on the ground. "Okay."

"SHALL OUR LESSONS BEGIN?"

Still softer "Okay."

"SHALL WE MIMIC THY VOICE?"

"Okay."

"HOW IS THIS?"

Fluttershy replied hastily, "Perfect. Lesson over."

She made a break for the cottage, but Twilight was a bit quicker on the draw to kick the door shut. Fluttershy crashes into it face first, plastering herself across the boards with her mane and tail falling limp. The door also happened to slam Chronicle in the face in the process. "Ow!"

"A little quieter, Princess."

"HOW IS…this?" Her voice was still raised a bit.

"Better! Right, Fluttershy?"

The pegasus peeled her head free and moaned woozily before falling off the floor. "Yes." Chronicle teleported back outside, still rubbing hs muzzle.

A bit softer still. "How…about…now?"

"Now you're getting it."

Even softer. "And…how about now?"

"Yes! Well done!"

The former exile had now matched the normal speaking volume of a typical pony. Fluttershy, meanwhile, had made it up off the step and was reaching for the door handle when Luna's telekinesis grabbed hold and whipped her over for a hug.

"AH, THANK THEE, DEAR FLUTTERSHY! OUR NORMAL SPEAKING VOICE SHALL SURELY WIN US THE HEARTS OF THY FELLOW VILLAGERS!"

The scared mare went limp and gets flopped around like a rag doll as a result. "This won't make for a pretty picture."

And then here came Pinkie, leading Pip and the other youngsters toward the cottage, entered the scene. "Fluttershy, you gotta hide us! Nightmare Moon is here and—" She trailed off into a shrill chicken squawk and a gasp, seeing Fluttershy sprawled bonelessly in Luna's front hooves. "She's stolen Fluttershy's voice so she can't scream when she GOBBLES HER UP!" She then bailed out, the others screaming and scattered in short order.

"NAY, CHILDREN, WAIT!" Luna pleaded before catching herself. "I-I mean…nay, children, wait!" She glanced dejectedly back at Twilight.

"Come on, Princess. Time for Plan B."

"And while we do that, I'm gonna try and get an explanation from Pinkie Pie. She was there with us when we confronted you, and she certainly wasn't scared. In fact…" Chronicle dispatched a clone—complete with Sound Wave ensemble, but minus the voice modulator—to go after the Spirit of Laughter. "When Nightmare Moon tried to stop us, she just happened to allow my friends to demonstrate the virtues they ended up representing, furthering her defeat. I have a few theories behind that. One is that Nightmare isn't really an effective 'villain'. Two, you were influencing her decisions from the inside. Three, she was actually hoping to lose after realizing the consequences of her eternal night. For a fighter like me, I have a lot of wild guesses in mind."

C—TS—F—PP—PL—P—C—TS—F—PP—PL—P

[A/N: I was a bit disappointed with Rarity's absence in Luna Eclipsed, so I decided to use the events of this comic strip as a basis.]

"My friend, Rarity, is the best when it comes to styling ponies with amazing garments! This is her boutique, Carousel Boutique!"

The three were now standing at the door in front of said building. This time, Chronicle did the knocking.

"GO AWAY! NO CANDIES HERE, PREPARATION ISN'T FINISHED YET!"

"Miss Rarity, are you available?" he then said, making certain his voice modulator was running perfectly.

There was a pause. "Is that who I think it is?"

"I don't know who you're thinking about."

"I don't believe it! Could you be— are Sealight Glisten or Jasmine Trinity with you? Or somewhere in town?"

"Um, no and no."

"That's strange?" the door to the boutique was opened, revealing Rarity (who was not dressed up). "Whyever would you—" she stopped short upon seeing the three. "Oh. You're just **dressed up** as Sound Wave. And you sound like her too."

Chronicle raised an eyebrow. "Huh. How are you able to tell?"

"I went on a trip to Baltimare with my family once and watched one of their performances. That's how I know of them. It was quite an interesting event. They were about to be ponynapped right in public, but somepony came and saved them just in time." The crossdressing stallion smiled inwardly; he was that savior, and he had also discovered a secret the P3 had (which he kept to himself out of respect). Rarity then noticed not-Sound Wave's companions. "I see that Twilight and Nightmare Moon are here as well." Then, just as with Fluttershy, she realized what she just said. "Nightmare Moon?!" This was followed with a slam of the door, just like before.

"Allow me," Chronicle offered as he teleported inside the boutique.

What followed was a shriek as Rarity discovered that the Sound Wave cosplayer was actually a stallion and her friend. And then an explanation ensued. One moment later, she opened the door.

"Rarity, this is Princess Luna," Twilight introduced the princess. "I'm sure you remember her and she needs your skills to make her look less intimidating…"

"'Look'? Uh, yeah, is there something wrong?"

"Yes, Rarity. Is something wrong with thou?"

"N-NO…NOTHING IS WRONG!" She then whispered to Chronicle. "I need to talk with you and Twilight in private."

The stallion nodded, motioned for Twilight to come over, and said to Luna, "Please wait here. And don't listen in."

"If that is what thou desires," replied Luna.

Once she was out of the way, Rarity said, "Twilight, I know you are trying to help, but this is **the Princess**! And dressing up a princess is a huge possibility… If I don't do it properly, it could be The! Worst! Possible! Thing!"

"I'm sure you'll do fine…" Twilight insisted, then addressed Luna. "Princess…"

Luna conceded and entered the boutique. "If thou insist."

"!**!**! It's okay, Rarity. Don't panic." The fashion designer distracted herself by turning to face Chronicle, "That dress you asked me to make wasn't for your sister?!"

The crossdressing stallion couldn't help but giggle a bit. "Yeah, I lied to you. Sorry." For the record, Timerity was dressed up as a wolverine for Nightmare Night, as in the animal and not one other certain "hero" popular to the Story Crew. The holiday in question doesn't exist in where Blue Diary is in and therefore is not celebrating it.

"You know, I don't question a customer's fashion choice when the money is good and the concept is sound. And I'll have to say I had no idea I was making a 'not-so-good' replica of Sound Wave's outfit until I saw you in it. How I didn't realize that is beyond me."

"I didn't want you asking questions. And now you know of this side of me. I don't mind wearing mare's clothes, but I only do it as a disguise or in Nightmare Night. Now get designing! Luna's costume won't sew itself."

"All right, all right. But… why are you still speaking like that even in front of me?"

"I used a voice modulation spell. It will wear off tomorrow."

C—TS—R—PL—C—TS—R—PL—C—TS—R—PL

Later…

"I'll just add a little more ribbon here and…done. Now you look… um…"

Luna was now dolled up in a completely pink ensemble. It admittedly looked nice.

"Rarity, what happened?" Twilight whispered.

"I panicked."

"How did you even tie a ribbon into an ethereal mane like hers, Rarity?" Chronicle wondered. He also 'received word' that his clone failed to find Pinkie before dissipating.

"Though this is a very marvelous dress, we cannot wear this in public," Luna apologized. "We'll have to take this off."

"I'm sorry, Twilight," said Rarity.

"No, I'm sorry for coming on short notice."

"RARITY! YOU GOT TO HIDE US!" a familiar voice came. Everypony present pivoted their heads to peer at the sight of Pinkie, Pip, and their posse to pop in the place. "Nightmare Moon just gobbled up Fluttershy's voice and—" She let off a gasp. "SHE EVEN ATE A PRINCESS! NOT EVEN ROYALTY IS SAFE! EVERYPONY RUN!"

"?!" As it turns out, they had caught Luna out of her clothes and a piece of cloth in her mouth, as if she had chewed on them. "NEIGH! CHILDREN WAIT! WE HAVE NOT DONE SUCH FOUL THING!" But it was useless; they were already gone. "But don't thou, at least, realize some changes?"

"Damn Pinkie," cursed Chronicle. "Just what does she think she's doing?"

"By the way, Twilight, very nice costume. Are you dressing as the oldest pony in the universe?" Rarity asked.

"It's Star Swirl the Bearded."

[A/N: And this is the in-story reason that Rarity's section was cut from the show; Chronicle was **directly** involved in the events.]

C—TS—R—PP—PL—P—C—TS—R—PP—PL—P

Later, back at the festivities…

As the crossdressing unicorns and night princess entered the venue, everypony stopped, bowed, and scraped before their advance, lowering Luna's spirits considerably.

"It is of no use, Twilight Sparkle, brave Chronicle," she said. "They have never liked us, and they never shall."

"Now don't be such a pessimist, Luna," replied the blue unicorn. "That's what led you to being Nightmare Moon in the first place."

"My friend Applejack is one of the most likable ponies around," Twilight said. "I'm sure she'll have some ideas."

"Well, what do you know? Looks like there's one pony still standing in the crowd."

Indeed there was. It was a unicorn stallion dressed up as an armored knight from head to hoof, indeed standing but in a defensive stance. What gave away his identity was his red ascot, which he wore outside the armor.

"Mystic Shield, is that you?" asked Twilight.

"Happy Nightmare Night, Twilight," Mystic greeted. "Same to you, Princess Luna." He accentuated this with a respectful bow. "And…is that you, Chronicle? I can't believe you actually went through with that costume."

"Wow, you saw through him that quickly?!"

"He told me he'd be dressing up as Sound Wave beforehoof. I can also see three errors in his costume, aside from the obvious race difference. Sound Wave's a pegasus."

"What are those errors?" asked Chronicle.

"One, her coat is a lighter shade of blue. Two, she uses the stars barrette ONLY during performances, opting for a cross-shaped one offstage. Three, that kind of skirt is supposed to have one less layer. How do I know this? I'm a avid fan of P3 back when I still lived in Baltimare."

"So you know P3?"

"Mm-hmm. You didn't see it because I am still settling down in Ponyville, and also I believe it's just going to get in the way of my teaching."

"I see." Mystic then turned to face Luna, and she could sense no fear from him. "You're wondering why I'm not quivering in fear like everypony else here, right?"

"That would be so, …Mystic Shield."

"Well, back in my youth, just like Chronicle I now realize, I've traveled the world, seen plenty of stuff. One thing I learned is to not fear or be overtly hostile to any unknown unless they themselves are hostile and even then I only attack when they start or when I personally know for certain they're trouble. It also sort of helps that I wasn't there during the Summer Sun Celebration to witness Nightmare Moon's return."

"…Thou have great courage to speak in front of a princess in such a manner."

"I witnessed your entrance earlier. And I was attentive enough to tell that you were…socially awkward. That and I was lucky enough to have a chat with your Night Guards later on. They're certainly more sociable than the Royal Guard."

"Thoust have a problem with thy sister's—"

"No, no, no," the 'armored knight' interrupted, another daring move, even though Luna didn't ask the previous question threateningly. "It's less the guard itself and more like one particular pony in it. I have personal reasons for that."

"I see." Chronicle noticed her slip in 'accent', but decided to say nothing about it.

"Mind if I accompany you, fair princess?"

There was a mild pause as Luna contemplated on it. "If thoust wishes to, Mystic Shield."

"Thank you. I hope my trust in you can help others do the same."

C—TS—MS—PL—C—TS—MS—PL—C—TS—MS—PL

At the (refilled) apple bobbing-tub…

Pip was balancing on the edge, trying to snag a floater, but lost his balance and started to topple in with a yell. In a flash, Applejack was there to grab him by the hindquarters. "Whoa. Careful there, pardner."

Once she sets him on the ground, he galloped off and she started to walk in the opposite direction, only to find herself face to face with Luna after barely one step. The four-legged scarecrow let out a strangled yelp, then dropped into a bow.

"Uh…" Twilight cleared her throat, then bent down. "Applejack? The Princess is looking for a little advice on how to fit in around here."

Applejack uncovered her eyes. "Fit in? Really?" A soft growl from Twilight convinced her to she stand up to face the night ruler with a slightly forced smile. "I mean… *uheh* …that's easy. All you gotta do is have the right attitude." She began to zip around the princess. "Loosen up a bit, be positive, play a few games, have some fun."

"Fun? What is this fun thou speakest of?"

Chronicle smirked before speaking, "Fun is when you…" He feigned fumbling for the words. "Fun is…it's like…it's kinda…sorta like a…What is fun?" I…" He cleared his throat. "Let me spell it for you." He then surprisingly broke into song.

_F is for friends who do stuff together  
U is for you and me  
N is for anywhere and anytime at all…_

He suddenly stopped. "And I forget the rest." Twilight and Applejack responded with a facehoof while Luna just raised an eyebrow and Mystic rolled his eyes behind the helmet. "Well actually, I know the last line, but I can't exactly apply it here. I learned the song from some seaponies, don't ask where. They do more than just 'shoo-be-doo', y'know."

"You learned it from seaponies? I learned that it was a draft composition from Sealight," Mystic said. He then scooted over to Luna and added, "The members of P3 compose their own songs."

"I think we're gettin' off track here," Applejack interrupted. "Anyway…" She and Twilight gestured off to one side and Luna and the two stallions followed with their eyes.

There was a bowl filled with oversized toy spiders. Luna walked over to it and asked, "Pray tell…what purpose do these serve?"

Cherry Berry, who was huddled and quivering in her bee costume spoke up from the ground. "Try…to land the sp-p…sp-p-piders on the web!"

"Using magic would be too easy," added Mystic. "And it's not allowed anyway."

A few yards away was a large spiderweb woven between two poles. Luna balanced one of the projectiles on her hoof, aimed carefully, and let fly. It landed short of the web and bounced squeakily to rest. Luna glanced nervously behind herself toward her companions.

"You can do it, Princess!" Applejack cheered.

The blue-green eyes narrowed in fierce concentration, and her next throw stuck squarely at the web's center. "Ha! Your Princess enjoys this…fun!" She turned to the others. "In what other ways may we experience it?"

A knowing look passed between the four.

C—TS—A—MS—PL—C—TS—A—MS—PL—C—TS—A—MS—PL

At another game…

Luna loaded a pumpkin into a catapult's basket. A crowd was watching cautiously, with the Princess's new friends at the front.

"Fire away, Princess!" Twilight called.

The two blue-shod front hooves pushed down on the basket and let it snap up, hurling the gourd high and far to score…a perfect bullseye. "Ha-ha! The fun has been doubled!"

There was a hearty round of cheers from the spectators.

"Why don't you try bobbin' for apples?" Applejack suggested. "We got the best apples in Equestria here, Princess."

"I ask that thou call us…me…Luna, fair Applejack. Hear me, villagers! All of you, call me Luna!"

The group that gathered murmured excitedly at this pronouncement, as Luna's four escorts led her toward the tub.

"Show me to these bobbing apples."

She stopped short, her eyes popping in shock. At the tub, Pip had again balanced on its edge and was about to fall. "Whoa!" This time, he tumbled in.

Luna was on the move before Applejack can even get her mouth closed.

"Hey, gals," Pinkie's voice suddenly came.

"████," swore the crossdressing stallion.

"What's wrong?" asked Mystic.

As the apple wrangler looked over her shoulder, Pinkie and the other candy collectors were seen a short distance across the square.

"Anypony seen Pip? We lost him the last time we had to run—" Pinkie let out a sudden shocked squawk and a yelp at the sight of…Luna having grabbed a fold of Pip's clothing in her teeth and hoisting him out. "Nightmare Moon is gobbling Pipsqueak! EVERYPONY RUUUNNN!" After a scream and bug out, the foals with her did likewise.

Pip did likewise as he pulled free and galloped off. "HEEELLLP! My backside has been gobbled!"

Luna was incensed at this. One other pony shared her feelings. "'Tis a lie! Thy backside is whole and un-gobbled, thou ungrateful whelp!"

A lightning strike threw her grimace and widened eyes into sharp relief. It also threw a good fright into quite a few of the onlookers. As they backed away slowly, she toned herself down again.

"Fair villagers, please do not back away! Let us join together in…fun!"

No dice. Luna looked around, noticed a toy spider from the throwing game, and picked it up in her teeth. This was tossed over to the scared mares, who recoiled when it hit the ground nearby.

"Not enough fun for you? What say you to this?"

A blast from her horn turned the plaything into an actual spider with two pairs of red eyes. the ponies scream and flee as it begins to scuttle away. Her next shot hit the whole bowl of toy spiders and brought them to life, and Cherry fainted as they swarmed over her. Instead of chewing her to pieces, though, they scurried downrange and onto the web to gather at its center.

Luna was fiercely pleased. "Huzzah! How many points do I receive?"

"Since you used magic, you're disqualified," Mystic mumbled. Aside from that, there was not one word from the stunned locals.

Carrot popped up screaming, with a spider on her head, and galloped off at full speed. All the others scattered an instant later.

"Do not run away!" Luna said.

"That won't work, Your Majesty," replied Mystic as he saw Daisy crash into a barrel of apples, upsetting it and knocking herself out.

"As your Princess, we command you!"

One pony collided head on with Sea Swirl. Next a popcorn cart took a hit and the giant wrapped-candy decoration mounted on its canopy fell loose and started rolling through the square, adding to the general panic. Luna cringed as lights and banners came down, then gathered herself before lifting a foreleg and lightning ripped the sky.

"BE STILL!" These two words reverberated in the air far longer than any others she had delivered in her royal Canterlot voice. Everypony save two got scared out of their wits and bowed so low they could be mistaken for throw rugs. The ones who remained standing were Chronicle, who had his microphone out again, and Mystic Shield, who just assumed a defensive stance.

Once the accompanying wind has died down, Twilight took the big gamble and got up first. ""Princess, remember! Watch the screaming!"

Luna rounded on her, eyes glowing white. "NO, TWILIGHT SPARKLE! WE MUST USE THE TRADITIONAL ROYAL CANTERLOT VOICE FOR WHAT WE ARE ABOUT TO SAY!"

The young unicorn's jaw dropped, the 'idol siger' started pounding his head against his microphone, Mystic muttered, "This won't end well", and the royal visitor unfurled her wings to hover a few feet above ground. Clouds swirled in the sky, hiding all the stars.

"SINCE YOU CHOOSE TO FEAR YOUR PRINCESS RATHER THAN LOVE HER, AND DISHONOR HER WITH THIS INSULTING CELEBRATION, WE DECREE THAT NIGHTMARE NIGHT SHALL BE CANCELED FOREVER!"

Another lightning bolt flashes over the dumbstruck crowd and the disbelieving Twilight. Chronicle however was thinking something else. _I am __**so**__ going to kill that toon pony once I find her!_

C—TS—A—PP—MS—PL—P—C—TS—A—PP—MS—PL—P

Eyecatch (picture-type) - Two busts of Nightmare Moon at either side of a jack-o-lantern, which has the show's logo carved into it somehow. (4)

C—TS—A—PP—MS—PL—P—C—TS—A—PP—MS—PL—P

Luna's four 'escorts' stood among the festival's wreckage in the town square, three in worry and one in seething fury.

Applejack gave a heavy sigh. "Shoot. We had everything goin' our way. Luna was happy, everypony in town was happy—now look at 'em."

The square was filled with disconsolate ponies of all ages. "But I wanted to be a zombie next year!" the princess filly from much earlier sobbed.

"This is all Pinkie's fault," Chronicle said. "When I find her, I'm gonna tear her a new ass such that she'll have to get her cutie mark **again**!" He glanced at a shocked Applejack. "Figuratively, of course."

Taking in the scene for a moment, Twilight moved one hoof and found a Nightmare-silhouette decoration on the ground underneath it. This gave her an idea. "It's not over yet."

"What are you gonna do?" asked Mystic.

Twilight just gave a smile. "I'm going to do what I do best…lecture her!"

"Good luck," said Chronicle. "I'm going to find Pinkie Pie. Mystic, I'll need your help."

"All right."

"Thank you. But first… know how to call for a chicken?"

C—TS—A—MS—C—TS—A—MS—C—TS—A—MS—C—TS—A—MS

Unfortunately, Pinkie was nowhere to be found. Which was especially bothersome since it normally be impossible to **not** find her. Well, they did manage to actually see her, but she's usually gone by the time they start pursuing. The lightning pranks by Rainbow Dash certainly did not help.

"Did you honestly think we can find her?" Mystic asked as they rested in front of his place, which was closed.

"Yeah, I probably didn't think this through," apologized Chronicle. "I'm usually better than this." _And I was unable to find anything to use the pinpointing spell on to make it easier._

"Is that you talking, or are you still 'playing' Sound Wave? Don't you think you're going a bit too far with the voice?"

"…I used a voice modulation spell, okay?"

"You guys found Pinkie Pie yet?" a voice came. The two turned to see Twilight, who looked determined. Luna was with her.

"No. It's like finding a needle in a haystack. Especially when that needle is squirming about inside it like a worm."

"I got a plan, but I'll need a couple of candies."

The crossdresser raised an eyebrow. "Is this what I think it's going to be?"

C—TS—PL—MS—C—TS—PL—MS—C—TS—PL—MS—C—TS—PL—MS

Later…

Across the murmuring, crying crowd in the square, Pinkie Pie popped up with a puzzled cluck and looked around. Something grabbed her attention and brought a little squawk; a piece of candy lying on the ground. She zipped over with a happy little cackle, pecked off the wrapper, and gobbled it down. Next, the pink pony with the cross-species identity crisis looked and gave a puzzled squawk to see a trail of sweets had been laid out at the mouth of an alley. Clucking and cackling, she ducked in and ate the first piece. Before she can start on the second, though, Twilight dove in and clapped a hoof over her mouth to cut off the start of her scream.

"I can't believe this actually worked," said an exasperated Mystic as he joined them.

"You do know this **is** Pinkie Pie we're talking about, right?" Chronicle commented.

"You do know I'm not exactly in the circle that is the Keepers of the Elements of Harmony, right?" the 'knight' retorted.

"Touché. Still, I feel we're like molesters doing this. I mean, luring a child to a dark alley with candy? Well, mare-child, but still."

"No! No shrieking! No squealing or screaming either, okay?" Twilight warned their 'captive'.

Pinkie replied with a muffled. "Okay."

"There's something I want you to see, and I promise that it's safe, but you really, really, really can't shriek. Do you promise not to shriek?"

"Mmm-hmm."

Twilight removed her hoof and backed away, and then Luna revealed herself. Pinkie's first reaction was a string of panicked clucks, but this time she shut herself up with both front hooves over the mouth.

"Pinkie Pie, you remember Princess Luna, right?"

Said princess stepped closer, still a bit wary. "Ah. The ringleader of the frightened children." She relented as she extended a hoof. "Hast thou come to make peace?"

Pinkie thought hard for a second, then smiled and moves forward while reaching toward Luna. As their two hooves were about to touch, a black cloud rolled in over the royal's head and cracked out lightning, turning her into a grimacing, white-eyed silhouette for a split second. This was enough to freak Pinkie out all over again.

"Nightmare Moon!"

She squawked, flapped her forelegs like wings, and was gone in an instant, leaving behind a large blue egg with purple spots.

_The ████?!_ Mystic thought as Chronicle 'picked up' the item and 'stowed' it in hammerspace before directing his head upward like his charge, utterly annoyed and already casting a spell.

"Rainbow!" both of them yelled.

A gale of laughter floated down as the Shadowbolt-costumed pegasus flopped onto her back atop the cloud and thoroughly enjoying the prank she had just brought off. That was before a giant 'shuriken' sliced through the cloud (and phased through her), eliciting a yelp of pain.

"Get lost!" the bodyguard shouted, his voice modulator making him sound like a fidgety girl with a hair-trigger temper and the prankster decided to flee. It goes to show that you do **not** get on Chronicle's bad side, even if you're a friend of his.

Meanwhile, Pinkie raced toward the mouth of the alley. Twilight teleported over to block her, but got a faceful of feathers instead. The two ponies tumbled a short distance, ending with Pinkie pinned to the turf by one very hacked-off unicorn, followed by one cross 'knight' and one pissed off 'idol singer'.

"She's changed, Pinkie!" Twilight tried to convince her. "She's not evil or scary anymore! And she definitely doesn't want to gobble you up!"

Pinkie's eyes popped before rolling. "Well, duh!"

"Huh?"

"What?!" screamed Chronicle.

"I know that. Sheesh, Twilight, I'm almost as big as her. How's she gonna gobble me up?"

"So why do you keep running away and screaming?"

"Yeah!"

"Sometimes it's just really fun to be scared."

Twilight reacted incredulously at this. "Fun?" With this, she suddenly got another big idea and aimed a big smile into Pinkie's face. "Pinkie Pie, you're a genius!"

"No, I'm not. I'm a chicken." She emphasized this statement with a loud squawk.

As Twilight got off of her, she was about to scoot off again before being 'picked up' by a very irate crossdresser and throttled to a wall. Mystic was shocked at his friend's behavior and was about to make a move to stop him were it not for a harsh glare that came from him. It wasn't as scary as Fluttershy's Stare, but it still unnerved even him and the blue contact lenses somehow strengthened the effect. The glare also 'told' him to leave, so he decided to go with Twilight.

The 'idol singer' then turned back to face the 'chicken'. "Pinkie Pie! Did you not even realize that what you did could've probably made Luna relapse into Nightmare Moon **again**?!" he scolded. "And another thing!" He 'pulled out' his paddle. "If it weren't for what I think Twilight's plan will be…!" He smacked her in the cheeks for every syllable/word he emphasized. "You! Ruined! Night! mare! Night! For! Every! pony!" For extra 'torture', he began to 'spin' the paddle like a speedy waterwheel and smacked her in the chin repeatedly.

"Oww…" Despite her innate earth pony durability, the paddle hits hurt like a mother dog. "I'm sorry, okay?" she said once the smacking stopped. "I had no idea she wasn't in on the whole scaring everypony thing. It's **her** holiday, named after **her**, in honor of **her**, and is about frightening others. Of course I'd think Luna was trying to scare everyone and I was just playing along!"

Chronicle smacked himself in the face for that. He hadn't **truly** celebrated Nightmare Night back then, or maybe it was celebrated somewhat differently outside Ponyville. He was mad at her regardless. There was no way she was gonna get away with this 'unscathed'. "You probably have a point. But the fact still stands that you **ruined the holiday**!" Chronicle's expression changed into a smirk. "There's only one way you can make up for this."

"W-w-what?"

"We both know just what you're capable of. That's you're different from other living beings. And I'm not talking about your energy, perkiness, or speed. You can take out random stuff out of nowhere, right?"

"Uh-huh."

"Well, when I tell you to take out something, whatever it may be, you do so **without question**. Unless you actually can't. Don't worry. I won't abuse it. Do we have a Pinkie Promise?"

"Pinkie Promise!" Pinkie answered frantically.

"Good! We'll go on the final details tomorrow noon. Lunch."

The 'chicken''s mood shifted instantly. "So it's a—"

"No."

"Aww."

At that moment, Mystic Shield went over to the two. "Chronicle? Twilight needs your assistance in the plan she has."

The crossdresser nodded before glaring at Pinkie. "If this doesn't fix the damage you made Luna cause…" He then made an "I'm watching you" gesture before joining the 'knight'.

C—TS—PP—PL—MS—C—TS—PP—PL—MS—C—TS—PP—PL—MS

Soon, the plan was put into action. And Chronicle agreed with it.

He, Twilight, and Mystic would accompany the procession of ponies who have decided (under the guide of Zecora, the Mayor, and Applejack) to deliver the candy "for the last time" to Nightmare Moon's statue. Luna meanwhile will be waiting there and would enact their next phase once the delivery is complete. As another consequence for her actions, Pinkie Pie was ordered to stay out of the plan.

So far, it was going well. With them to bring up the rear, the foals were offering their candy as tribute. Right after the ladybug-costumed filly was done, Pip walked up and set down the bag he carried in his teeth.

He looks up at the statue and said, "Goodbye, Nightmare Night…" He then dropped his head. "…forever." He began to walk away, but a sudden blast of wind froze him and the other fillies in their tracks and put a fright into the adults save for the two stallions.

"CITIZENS OF PONYVILLE!" Luna's voice came. "YOU WERE WISE TO BRING THIS CANDY TO ME! I AM PLEASED WITH YOUR OFFERING…" Applejack's straw scarecrow hat was blown off from the wind as the statue 'came to life'. "…SO PLEASED THAT I MAY JUST EAT **IT** INSTEAD OF EATING **YOU**!" At the end of this, Nightmare hunches down toward the group, baring mouthful of very sharp teeth and her eyes blazing white. What followed was a collective scream and a stampede out of the place.

"This way! We'll deal with her!" Chronicle yelled as he and Mystic ushered the group somewhere safe (which Twilight was no longer in).

"Are you sure, miss?" asked Pip.

"There's no time! Go!"

And soon the matter of innocents was taken care of, leaving the villainous winged unicorn standing alone on the pedestal, seemingly about to confront the two heroes who decided to stay behind.

Which was what they wanted it to look like.

In one quick flash, Nightmare transformed back into Luna, and she spit out a set of fake fangs—used to help enhance the effect of the masquerade. Luna: "I am not certain that did what you meant for it to do, Twilight Sparkle," she said uncertainly as said unicorn walked up behind her while the two stallions walked over.

"Just wait," the crossdressing mare assured with confidence as the princess jumped down.

"For what? For…for them to scream some more?"

Something tugged on the end of her mane. It turns out to be Pipsqueak. "Um, Princess Luna…I know there's not gonna be any more Nightmare Night, but do you suppose maybe you could come back next year… and scare us again anyway?"

She looked off past him and saw the other fillies huddled together at a distance, also according to plan.

"Child, art thou saying that thou…likest me to scare you?"

_Another slip in accent. It should be 'thou'._

Pip gave a smile. "It's really fun! Scary, but fun."

_Now that sounds naughty._

"It…'tis?"

"Yeah! Nightmare Night is my favorite night of the year."

Luna gave a smile in return. "Well, then! We shall have to bring…NIGHTMARE NIGHT BACK!"

The force of these three words sent the little pinto sliding backward on the grass. "Whoa!" He said as he stood up. "You're my favorite princess ever!" He zipped back over to her and bowed before galloping away. "She said yes, guys!"

"YAAAAY!" cheered the rest of the foals.

"See? They really do like you, Princess!" Twilight said.

"Can it be true?" Luna reared up lightning cracking— "OH, MOST WONDERFUL OF—" Before catching herself. "—I mean, oh, most wonderful of nights."

C—TS—A—MM—PL—MS—P—C—TS—A—MM—PL—MS—P

_"Dear Princess Celestia: When you first sent me to Ponyville, I didn't know anything about friendship. I met somepony tonight who was having the same problem—your sister, Princess Luna. She taught me that one of the best things you can do with friendship is to give it to others and help them find it themselves. And I'm happy to report that all of Ponyville has learned that even if somepony seems a little intimidating, even scary, when you offer them your friendship, you'll discover a whole new pony underneath. And even if my Starswirl the Bearded costume didn't go over, this still turned out to be the best Nightmare Night ever."_

_"P.S. (from Chronicle): I was about to remark on the fact that you…neglected to update your sister on basic modern customs, which was the cause of all the trouble and even led to a temporary __**cancellation**__ of Nightmare Night until I realized that you probably had reasons for it. I can name three. One, you pulled a prank, and I know you do such things. Two, she insisted doing this on her own like a "typical younger sister" (you should've told her about the friendship report that centered on Applejack). Three, you thought telling her would've just made her 'go through the motions' without learning or bonding with her subjects, which in this case you still should've explained anyway. There is a difference you know. apologies for the rant, but it's what I do."_

SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM—SCFIM

(1) Chronicle's Nightmare Night costume is based on a character from one of my favorite animés, Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch, which has an interesting premise; it combines the elements of "magical girl" with "idol singer" and pulls it off quite effectively in my opinion.

(2) P3 is based off of the main characters of the animé I mentioned. Sound Wave is my personal expy of "Aqua Pearl Voice" Hanon Hosho, which is why Pinkie alluded to Chronicle sounding like Skyla; the Japanese VA I "assigned" her is also Hanon's seiyuu.

(3) Pardon any Ye Olde Englishe errors you see. I'm not wholly familiar with the language.

(4) Yeah, my eyecatches aren't as imaginative as in other chapters. Sorry.

nightelf37: I know I got rid of the final scenes from the episode, but I deemed them pointless. See ya on Third!


End file.
